The
brochure arrived in that blizzard of political junk mail that
seems to come around these days. "This is the worst political
advertising I've ever seen," I remember thinking at the time.
But since all the candidates had not yet weighed in, I pretty
much forgot about it until I ran across a story in The Tribune
the other day about bar association endorsements in the Cook County
Circuit Court races.
Buried
in the middle pages of the Metro section, The Trib reported that
The Chicago Council of Lawyers, and nine other bar associations,
have issued their evaluations of the judicial candidates. The
evaluations, by candidate and race, can all be seen together on
a new non-partisan website funded by the Joyce Foundation called
Vote for Judges.
Of
the 73 candidates running for vacant seats in 23 circuit court
districts, The Council of Lawyers found 39 were unqualified. Some
were deemed too young. Others lacked trial experience. Eighteen
were not recommended because they didn't even bother to submit
their credentials for evaluation.
Judges
running for office the first time do not run citywide, but in
local districts. So I scanned the convenient map provided by Vote
for Judges and discovered I the live in sub-district 6 of the
Circuit Court, an area that roughly covers Bucktown, Wicker Park,
Logan Square, Ukranian Village, Humboldt Park and parts of Ravenswood.
I
clicked my way down to the three candidates running in my district
and, sure enough, there was my man, Edward J. Lechowicz, batting
exactly 0-for-10 in the qualified category.
I'm
not sure what first caught my eye in the Lechowicz campaign brochure.
It obviously cost some money. Four full size pages of rich, gaudy
red and white and blue with a flag and gavel on the front, pictures
of law books on the back and faint calligraphy underneath spelling
out Honesty, Leadership and Integrity like they'd been lifted
right off the Constitutional parchment.
But
when I took a closer look at the small photo on the cover, I could
see it was a picture of Lechowicz taking the Boy Scout pledge
in eighth grade. And inside there were more pictures of his graduation
from grade school (Martyr Grammar) and high school (St. Stanislaus
Bishop.) There was one snapped with his father at his law school
graduation. (NIU-De Kalb). Another standing behind three Illinois
Supreme Court Justices when he was sworn in at the bar in 1998.
And still another of him standing behind a podium in what was
probably some speech class.
"Why
would anybody seriously run for a judgeship on nothing more than
pictures of himself as a kid?" I wondered. And then it dawned
on me: Ed Lechowicz is not just a kid. He's Ted Lechowicz's kid
-- which means he's probably going to win.
To
be fair, Ed Lechowicz, 36, is not without credentials. After being
admitted to the bar, he worked for two years in the law firm of
former Ald. Ed Vrdolyak, then moved on to become a research assistant
in the office of the chief judge of the circuit court. In that
capacity, he served as a clerk to judges in the probate, chancery
and law (but not criminal) divisions where, he told me, he writes
orders for judges and "helps them any way I can."
His
two opponents, however, have twice as much legal experience as
both lawyers and litigators. Roxanne Rochester, 44, runs a one
person law office that services individuals and small businesses.
Eight of the bar associations consider her qualified, but two
do not, including the influential Council of Lawyers which cited
her lack of criminal trial experience.
But
Ramon Ocasio, 44, presents a different story. After joining the
bar in 1989, Ocasio spent four years as a public defender in the
criminal courts. He left that job to run the Illinois Attorney
General's regional consumer fraud office in Chicago. Eight years
later, he returned to the public defender's office, where he is
now a supervisor with 18 other lawyers working beneath him. In
addition to his courtroom experience, Ocasio is president of the
Puerto Rican Bar Association so it's not surprising all 10 bar
associations rate him qualified, and two consider him highly qualified.
One
reason for Ed Lechowicz's low rating by the bar associations is
that he couldn't care less. "I believe I'm fully qualified and
the leaders of the Democratic Party believe I'm fully qualified,"
he told The Sun-Times's Carol Marin in January. So he simply ignored
their request to submit his qualifications for consideration.
Besides, "Bar associations set an unreasonable limit", he told
Marin, referring to their preference for candidates with 10 to
12 years experience. (Lechowicz has eight.) He's the slated candidate
of the Cook County Democratic Party. The others are not. Case
closed.
The
fact is Lechowicz is right. Bar association ratings don't count
as much in these elections as political muscle, and no one has
more political muscle in this neighborhood than his father, Ted
Lechowicz. For as long as I can remember, Lechowicz has been running
for office here. He served seven terms in the state assembly,
five in the state Senate and three as a county commissioner (the
last two at the same time.)
The
elder Lechowicz was one of the reigning powers on the county board
when his son Ed got his job in the chief judge's office. But his
personal winning streak ran out in 2002 when Forrest Claypool,
now running for County Board President, ousted him from the northwest
side seat in a well-financed campaign to "throw the bums out."
No
one is holding tag days for Ted Lechowicz, 67. He's retired now,
but earning $207,800 a year from three government pensions and
an $80,000 a year job as a member of the Illinois Labor Relations
Board. (The last appointment appears to be a lame duck gift from
a defeated Gov. George Ryan to a defeated Lechowicz right after
the 2002 elections.)
But
he's anxious to see his son succeed. If Ed Lechowicz wins, he
will jump from a clerk's salary to the roughly $150,000 a year
Circuit Court judges make, probably for the rest of his life.
Open
elections are held for Circuit Court judgeships only when an incumbent
retires or dies. Once a candidate is elected, he must submit his
name to the voters only once every six years on a judicial retention
ballot where 40% of citywide voters who bother to mark the ballot
(most don't since they can't tell who is who) must specifically
vote him out. Since 1964, 98% of the judges have won retention,
and none have been removed in this century.
Recent
polls indicate the March 21 Democratic primary here may be a hot
contest between Claypool and John Stroger, the current president
of the county board. Both sides will have their precinct workers
at the polling sites - and so will the judicial candidates.
Ocasio
has the endorsement of two state Senators in the district, Miguel
Del Valle and Iris Martinez, and The Independent Voters of Illinois-Independent
Precinct Organization (IVI-IPO.)
Lechowicz
will be carrying the support of Congressman Luis Guitierez; Aldermen
Mell, Matlak, Flores, Burnett, Schulter, Carrothers, Mitts and
Suarez; county commissioners Maldonado and Berrios; Secretary
of State Jesse White; and, naturally, The Teamsters.
Who
do you think is going to win?
Copyright
© 2006, The
Week Behind