CCL & Chicago Appleseed in the News on Judicial Elections

WGN, the Chicago Tribune and Medill Watchdog have begun a series of investigations into the judicial elections process. The integrity of the judicial elections process is an important research concern at Chicago Appleseed, as is the overall quality of our judiciary and the investigators spoke to our executive director, Malcolm Rich, about the judicial elections process. Malcolm Rich also serves as the executive director of the Chicago Council of Lawyers, which regularly evaluates judicial candidates for primary and retention elections.

Part 1 of the series looks at campaign consultants who have worked on judicial campaigns and we were pleased to offer some background information about the political process of being slated as a judicial candidate in Cook County. Although we have little expertise on the discrete issue of campaign consultants, we have long been concerned with ensuring the electoral process results in the best qualified judges.

The Tribune article can be read here, and the WGN video segment is embedded at the page.