BY MIKE CETERA
With the recent scrutiny over state and local campaign contributions, this news out of a Kane judicial race is particularly interesting.
John Noverini, the Republican-turned-Democrat seeking an open subcircuit seat, says he won't take contributions from attorneys, citing a conflict of interest.
"It makes (raising funds) more difficult, but personally, I'm just not comfortable taking money from attorneys who are going to appear before me," Noverini said in an interview. "It's legal, but sometimes you have to go beyond the law, especially if you're running for judge."
There's a couple (at least) ways to look at this: A) Noverini believes what he is pledging; or B) He expects his opponent -- Patricia Piper Golden -- to whup him in fundraising and can offer this as an excuse.
No matter, his objections shine a light on an overlooked fact: Judicial candidates get the majority of their campaign money from attorneys.
In the Aurora judicial subcircuit race, Republican Fred Morelli reported $19,400 in itemized individual contributions on his last D-2 (Democrat Jim Murphy's contributions were not broken down online.).
Of Morelli's 56 itemized donations, at least 36 came from either attorneys or law offices (I cross-checked donors' names with the Illinois Attorney Registration and Disciplinary Commission list of attorneys.).
What's wrong with this? I'm inclined to say not much. I'm guessing a good number of these donors are Morelli's friends (or at least friendly associates). Any potential conflict is there regardless of the contribution because of the past relationships.
The question you have to ask when looking to vote for any judge is, can he/she put aside the relationship with an attorney in a case to make a ruling on the merits of the case?
There is an advantage to filing on paper, it makes it a lot harder to do the research on who is giving to you. It would have been interesting to see who gave the money to Murphy right before the primary and how much they gave...
Might be worth it to contact the state board of elections to get a copy of his filings.
I know Piper-Golden is connected to the old boys network and isn't known as a good judge. I think attorneys who contribute to judges is an obvious conflict of interest and I hope she has the courage to ban the same.