SHAKEUP SPRINGFIELD: Gov. Rauner is stirring up controversy while attempting to shakeup Springfield.
By Fran Eaton and Dennis LaComb | Watchdog Arena
Republican Bruce Rauner promised to “Shakeup Springfield” during his 2014 Illinois gubernatorial campaign, and during his 17-stop “Turnaround Illinois” tour this week, he shook up the powers-that-be at the state’s third branch of government.
“I don’t trust the Supreme Court to be rational in their decisions,” Rauner told the suburban Daily Herald’s editorial board. “I think they’re activist judges who want to be legislators.”
During his second editorial board interview of the week, Rauner was asked if the state Supreme Court is part of a corrupt system, and Rauner replied, “Yes, correct. Yes. Yes. We have a system where we elect our judges, and the trial lawyers who argue cases in front of those judges give campaign cash to those judges. It’s a corrupt system.”
The next day, the governor’s tone had changed–just a bit.
“I probably didn’t use words carefully enough,” he told the Quad City Times Wednesday. “I believe our judicial system is full of conflicts of interests. And the Supreme Court is part of the judicial system. It’s not the Supreme Court, per se, it’s the system.”
Rauner told the editorial board he didn’t intend to point an accusing finger at any particular court or individual judges, but, he said, Illinois’ system of electing Supreme Court justices is “a conflict for lawyers, as well as businesses who have an interest in the court’s decisions, to be able to make campaign contributions to elected judges.”
Trial lawyers and the Illinois Democratic Party and its chairman, House Speaker Mike Madigan, have invested millions in Supreme Court justice retention campaigns. The Illinois Republican Party and the Illinois Chamber of Commerce have raised millions to elect and retain judges sympathetic to their causes.
The seven members of the state’s highest court face voters every 10 years. Currently there are four justices that lean Democrat and three that sympathize with Republicans.
When asked about the situation during a press conference in 2004, Supreme Court Justice Karmeier said he doesn’t pay attention to whomever writes checks to his campaigns.
The first-time governor backed away from his Tuesday comments, and focused instead on a “conflicted” legal system.
“My comments about the Supreme Court, one of the issues I raised is, you know, they’re opining on things that impact them, when they talk about pensions and health care and what not,” he said. “I’m just troubled by the conflict. I don’t criticize them. They’re doing the best they can. They’re good people. I don’t criticize individual judges or a particular court. The system, I think, has conflicts.”
Because the Illinois Supreme Court is in the process of deciding the fate of an all-important and badly-needed state pension reform, Rauner’s words caused some to cringe.
“Who’s advising him?” an Illinois Review.com commenter asked.
But more agreed with Rauner ‘s comment than disagreed.
One former state lawmaker agreed with Rauner’s assessment.
“The long history of corruption on the Illinois Supreme Court is a tragic one that dates back many decades. One of the most infamous cases in 1969 eventually led to the resignations of former Chief Justice Roy Solfisburg and Justice Ray Klingbeil in the wake of compelling evidence that they took bribes from a defendant to rule in his favor,” said Illinois historian and former State Senator Mark Rhoads.
“This certainly does not mean that every Illinois Supreme Court justice has been untrustworthy, but the system of their nomination and election is so tainted as to justify Gov. Rauner’s extreme caution about the dubious integrity of the Court and its members.”
Two leaders involved with the Illinois Republican Party agreed with Rauner’s criticism and commented online.
Illinois Republican strategist Chris Robling said one school of thought believes unless a judge is elected by the voters, it is a denial of due process rights. However, elected officials pick federal judges in a round about way.
“…All of us vote for U.S. Senators and Presidents. In turn, they select jurists who will have Article III status. Yet when we vote — often at the same election, on the same ballot, for state legislators and Governor, no such power attaches to those offices,” Robling commented online. “Given that the same voters decide both levels of office, one wonders why we are considered wise enough on the federal portion of the ballot, but not so on the state portion.”
Rauner’s antagonistic comments could stir debate on how Illinois judges are picked, Robling said. But Illinoisans must deal with the system now in place – until a new one is adopted.
“We must hope that even without Article III status, its members will act with the same level of independence and probity that the Founders intended for their federal counterparts,” Robling said.
And a key leader in the Chicago Republican Party said Rauner’s “corrupt” comment was right and welcomed, while a significant portion of the legislative system is uncomfortable taking the judicial branch on.
“We don’t hear much criticism of the third branch of goverment because most elected officials and many in the public sphere are lawyers, and they have a natural aversion to going after judges directly,” Chris Cleveland said. “Some of them must practice before judges, some hope to be judges, and some are just part of a legal culture that demands reverence for judges.”
Cleveland went on. “That’s why this comment by Rauner is so welcome. We need to start fixing a branch of government that is corrupt, mismanaged, and almost untouchable. I’m glad someone had the courage to say what needs to be said.”
This article was written by a contributor of Watchdog Arena, Franklin Center’s network of writers, bloggers, and citizen journalists.