Kane Co. Bar weighs in on judge candidates
On Nov. 2, voters had their chance to decide who would be the next circuit judge in Elgin, choosing Republican and former Kane County State's Attorney David Akemann over Democrat John Dalton.
You don't get a vote on who will fill two more vacancies for associate judge in the 16th Judicial Circuit, but the Kane County Bar Association recently weighed in on the 48 applicants.
“That's a high number. That's a lot of interest,” said Patrick Kinnally, KCBA president.
The bar association's 21-person Judicial Evaluation Committee reviewed questionnaires from the candidates, interviewed them and reviewed their qualifications.
Some criteria included: Integrity, legal knowledge, legal ability, temperament, diligence, punctuality and professional experience.
Ten applicants were “highly recommended:” Lissa Hamer, David Kliment, Bruce Lester, Vincent Mancini, Thomas McCulloch, William Parkhurst, Mark Pheanis, Thomas Scherschel, Glenn Sowa and Anne Stanfa.
The applicants who were “recommended” are: Michael Blake, Marcy Buick, Reginald Campbell, Cathy Cavins, Dale Clark, Rene Cruz, Charles Dobra, Christine Downs, Margo Ely, William Engerman, Elizabeth Flood, Michael Funkey, Alice Hendrikson, George Irizarry, Kathryn Karayannis, Daniel Klenke, Christopher Klis, Robert Kramer, Salvatore Lopiccolo, Elizabeth Lovig-Miles, John McAdams, Fred Morelli, James Mullally, Sandra Parga, Edward Peterka, Greg Sams, Robert Sandner, Divya Sarang, Susan Shivers, Laurie Sikorski, Gregory Slovacek, Mark Wade, Bradley Waller, John Walters and Gail Zwemke.
Three applicants “not recommended” are Carlo Colosimo, David Howard and Ricardo Munoz.
Chief Judge F. Keith Brown said the circuit court judges on Dec. 7 will meet and vote on the two posts. New judges will be sworn in within three weeks after that.
“We would like to have them on by the end of the year so they can go to judge school in January,” Brown said.
Associate judges Kevin Busch and Karen Simpson ran unopposed Nov. 2 for other judge positions, but officials must wait for the Illinois State Board of Elections to make the election results official on Dec. 3.