Judges turn on one of their own
Monday, Oct 15, 2018 - Posted by Rich Miller
* From June…
Two men exonerated after 23 years in custody claim Cook County Circuit Judge Matthew Coghlan took part in framing them for murder, standing by as disgraced former Chicago police Detective Reynaldo Guevara convinced an informant to falsely accuse them, according to a pending federal lawsuit.
The informant eventually recanted, saying prosecutors and police had worked together to prepare a story they knew to be false. And one of the key players involved was Coghlan, who in a previous job as a gang prosecutor had worked with Guevara, whose misconduct has led to 18 exonerations of falsely convicted people.
* September…
The Cook County Democratic Party took the rare step Friday of refusing to endorse a sitting Cook County judge, deciding not to recommend Circuit Judge Matthew Coghlan for reelection in November. […]
The party normally urges voters to reelect all judges, listing their names on sample ballots and recommending them in automated calls to voters.
The party doesn’t want people to get into the habit of voting “No” on retention elections, so they encourage everyone to vote “Yes.” It’s a rarity, indeed, when the party goes against a judge.
* Friday…
Embattled Cook County Circuit Judge Matthew Coghlan’s hopes of keeping his job have suffered another blow.
The committee that provides funding for circuit judges’ retention campaigns is turning over much of its money to the Cook County Democratic Party. And the party is campaigning to defeat Coghlan in November’s election, according to Jacob Kaplan, the party’s executive director.
Cook County’s circuit judges formed the committee years ago so they wouldn’t have to directly raise money when they face election to remain in office.
The move to shift the money was the result of a secret vote by the retention judges. They decided to fund the party’s efforts despite the Democrats’ opposition to Coghlan, one of 59 Cook County judges who will be on the November ballot seeking new six-year terms.
No Cook County just has lost a retention battle since 1990, according to the article.
The Judicial Accountability PAC is also involved, paying for some mail and palm cards opposing Coghlan.
- wordslinger - Monday, Oct 15, 18 @ 11:14 am:
Man bites dog.
- Cheryl44 - Monday, Oct 15, 18 @ 11:22 am:
Why don’t they do this stuff before voting starts?
I have once again skipped the judges because people think all voting happens on Election Day.
- Anon - Monday, Oct 15, 18 @ 11:32 am:
The judges are not turning on one of their own. The cook county democratic party, or more specifically Toni Preckwinkle is turning on judges. She runs the county, the sheriff, the P.D., the State’s Attorney, and she is now trying to establish control over the judiciary. oh yeah, and she is running for Mayor.
- Rich Miller - Monday, Oct 15, 18 @ 11:33 am:
===The judges are not turning on one of their own===
Yes, they are. Read the story.
- 47th Ward - Monday, Oct 15, 18 @ 11:45 am:
===Why don’t they do this stuff before voting starts?===
They did. They just didn’t get a lot of publicity about it until now.
- wordslinger - Monday, Oct 15, 18 @ 11:55 am:
–She runs the county, the sheriff, the P.D., the State’s Attorney,…==
That’s a nice shiny hat you have. Tom Dart should get the Academy Award for the acting job he’s doing while really being a lacky for Preckwinkle.
- BC - Monday, Oct 15, 18 @ 12:01 pm:
Bet on Coghlan getting retained.
It’s doubtful that anyone holding public office anywhere in the country is held to less scrutiny and accountability than Cook County judges.
There are 59 judges on the retention ballot this fall in Cook County (which is kind of low compared to other years.) So many names that the voters can’t see the forest through the trees. Other counties in Illinois have just a few judges on the ballot for retention each year, which means they’re exposed to at least a minimum level of review by the voters.
In Cook, judgeships are de facto lifetime appointments.
- Ok - Monday, Oct 15, 18 @ 12:17 pm:
Vote no on all retention until it becomes a close vote…
- Trapped in the ‘burbs - Monday, Oct 15, 18 @ 12:36 pm:
Preckwinkle gave the judges the choice of a mailer with the entire space allocated for judges to be filled with the one vote NO on judge Coughlan or all the judges on the ballot with a yes recommendation for all of them except Coughlan. So, they were given the choice of paying and hoping to dilute the impact of the NO position of the party or not pay and seeing the NO RECOMMENDATION being the only message about judges released by the party. Not great.
- Roman - Monday, Oct 15, 18 @ 12:37 pm:
- Anon - @11:32 is a bit over the top, but there is some truth in what he/she is saying about the judges not turning on their own.
As they have for decades, the Cook County judges who are up for retention joined together in an “all-for-one-one-for-all” effort to raise money for a “vote yes” committee. Then, as they do every election cycle, (the Sun-Times headline falsely made it sound like it was unprecedented,) the judges turned the cash over to the county Democratic Party to fund its perennial “vote yes” countywide mailers and palm cards. The county party, not the judges, dumped Coghlan from those pieces.
- Anonymous - Monday, Oct 15, 18 @ 1:05 pm:
Glad to see this, whatever the motivations. Let’s drop the 1910 attitude that judges are not political, and start seeing more judicial accountability. This scrutiny needs to be statewide, starting with how and why Rock Island circuit judge Ted Kutsunis dismissed charges against Whiteside county deputy Jeffrey Wunderlich for killing motorcyclist Bill Damhoff. Start by looking at how Third District Appellate judge Vicki Wright started as a State’s Attorney in Whiteside. Wright is married to Karl Kovarics, the 911 administrator-for-life. Lots of cozy good old boy/girl relationships for judicial committees to scrutinize.
- Anon - Monday, Oct 15, 18 @ 3:28 pm:
Oh that’s cute wordslinger. You think Tom Dart actually does a job. To the point, she has cut and ripped his budget. To obtain anything, he must do her bidding. That is running it.
- 37B - Monday, Oct 15, 18 @ 3:32 pm:
I’m not entirely sure on this memory, but I believe the last Judge to fail at retention reportedly took a bribe to acquit an enormous male body builder of brutally beating a much smaller female police officer following a traffic stop. I recall there was a concerted effort by police and firefighters to oppose retention. I think that judge, whose name escapes me, was also implicated in Operation Greylord. That’s what it takes to knock a bad judge off the bench.
- orzo - Monday, Oct 15, 18 @ 3:43 pm:
37B is referring to Judge Lawrence Passarella, who was not retained (there was a campaign by police officers and others to vote “no” because of the incident described. He was not charged in Greylord.
- 37B - Monday, Oct 15, 18 @ 3:52 pm:
Thanks orzo. I knew my memory was somewhat cloudy on the details.
- PACs - Monday, Oct 15, 18 @ 4:26 pm:
The Secretary of the “Judicial Accountability PAC” - Jennifer Bonjean - Currently appears to have a lawsuit against the City of Chicago including Judge Coghlan as a defendant.
Seems there is perhaps a financial interest at play here for why the PAC is behind this campaign.