DuPage judge candidates spar over their records

Judicial elections are normally staid, quiet affairs. But that’s not the case this year in DuPage County, where a three-way race has two candidates accusing each other of embellishing their records.

In the Republican race for a 6-year circuit judgeship are veteran county board member Patrick O’Shea, Circuit Judge Bob Gibson, and Associate Judge Brian McKillip. Whoever wins the March 20 primary will square off in November with Democrat Alice Wilson, a Bolingbrook attorney.

Last week, the race heated up with the Gibson campaign accusing O’Shea of misstating his professional background, including whether he remains a licensed patent attorney and whether he practiced before the U.S. Supreme Court. In turn, O’Shea accused Gibson of embellishing his experience as a trial lawyer.

Both sides denied each other’s claims. McKillip had no comment, saying his record spoke for itself.

O’Shea provided documentation showing he was licensed in 1982 by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office. But the Lombard attorney was unable to explain why his name no longer appears in an online database of patent attorneys maintained by the government agency, which did not respond to inquiries.

“I’m a patent attorney as far as I know,” O’Shea said. “I bet this is about some licensing fee that’s due or something. If there is some registration fee, I don’t know about it. Nobody ever called me.”

O’Shea acknowledged he is not licensed to argue cases before the highest court in the nation, but he said he never claimed he was. He said he helped write briefs and appeals for a law firm handling Supreme Court cases between 1979 and 1982, and “that’s ‘practice’ before the United States Supreme Court.”

“If I said ‘argued,’ I’d be wrong,” he said.

O’Shea also defended his position that he left Chicago’s John Marshall Law School in 1979 “with honors.” While the Gibson campaign said he touted at political events that he graduated with academic honors, O’Shea countered that he was honored through his participation in the National Mock Trial the year he graduated.

An assistant dean at the college confirmed O’Shea participated in the National Mock Trial but said “he didn’t receive honors for it.” Law professor Ronald Smith, one of three advisers in the mock trial competition in 1979, on the other hand, said he remembers sending informal letters to congratulate team members for their participation.

“We sent out letters saying this was extraordinary work that you’ve done, and we may have or probably did say something that you have honors. It was informal, it never went into any other record,” Smith said. “I don’t think he’s making it up.”

O’Shea said he never claimed academic honors.

“Clearly, this is grasping at straws,” he said. “I don’t lie. I don’t misstate things. It is an honor to represent your school at National Mock Trial.”

The Gibson campaign saw it differently.

“When you add all these things up, it shows he (O’Shea) lacks the integrity to be a judge,” said Gibson campaign manager James McCluskey. “I believe he misrepresents his qualifications.”

O’Shea countered that Gibson embellished his own record by saying at campaign events that he has tried more than 200 cases before judges and juries. There was no immediate way to independently verify how many cases Gibson has tried, but the candidate said he stands by his previous statements.

“I’ve tried a minimum of 200 cases, not juries but bench trials, in all kinds of courtrooms — criminal, traffic, civil, chancery — for 27 years,” Gibson said. “I stand behind that. I never used the word ‘jury.’”

Whoever is elected to the position vacated by Judge Perry Thompson will join a panel of 15 jurists in the 18th Judicial Circuit. Circuit judges run their own court calls and collectively appoint associate judges.

Gibson currently holds the open seat, an appointment that expires after the November election. The successful candidate would later have to run for retention.

About the candidates:

O’Shea, 61, of Lombard, is DuPage’s longest-serving county board member, elected in 1990, and a former chairman of the York Township Republican Committee. His work has focused largely on criminal and civil trials, as well as appeals, he said.

“My experience, temperament, common sense and integrity will be of great aid to me on the bench,” he said.

Gibson, 53, of Naperville, is a former private-practice attorney who handled medical malpractice cases and multimillion-dollar real-estate transactions, in addition to wills, trusts and some criminal defense work, he said. He was appointed a circuit judge by the Illinois Supreme Court in August 2010 and has since worked in foreclosure court.

“The Illinois Supreme Court justices demonstrated their confidence in me, and I will continue to work as hard as I possibly can to merit that confidence,” he said.

McKillip, 65, of Warrenville, has been an associate judge for nearly 13 years, working in family law, traffic court, criminal misdemeanors and domestic relations. Before that, he was a prosecutor for the village of Glen Ellyn for more than a decade. In private practice, he also represented small businesses and handled divorces, estate planning and criminal defense cases, he said.

“The responsibility of serving as a circuit court judge is best placed in the hands of one who has demonstrated by his or her service through the years the experience, knowledge and wisdom to fulfill the office,” McKillip said.

All three candidates are recommended by the DuPage County Bar Association. Gibson and McKillip are ranked as “highly recommended,” while O’Shea is ranked as “recommended.”

The Illinois State Bar Association also recommended Gibson and McKillip. O’Shea received a “not recommended” ranking from that organization.