Today, the independent expenditure committee All for Justice (AFJ) placed its second buy for the General Election Cycle with the ad “Oath.”
The ad highlights the risk Republican Supreme Court candidates Justice Michael Burke and Mark Curran’s pose to all Illinoisians from a doctor’s perspective. This buy builds off the previous ad, “One Seat,” highlighting the horrific records of Burke and Curran on abortion.
“Rochford and O’Brien are right for Illinois. It is the goal of All for Justice to ensure that voters know the distinct differences between them and these two men. We have the resources to set the record straight in both districts and intend to over the final weeks,” said Luke Casson, Chairman of All for Justice.
Justice Michael Burke faces Justice Mary Kay O’Brien in the 3rd District, which includes DuPage, Will, Grundy, LaSalle, Bureau, Livingston, Iroquois, and Kankakee Counties. Mark Curran faces Judge Elizabeth Rochford in the 2nd District, which includes Lake, McHenry, Kane, Kendall, and DeKalb counties.
Pregnancies are complicated and every situation is different. My job is to do what’s best for my patients.
But Mark Curran and Michael Burke want to criminalize abortion in Illinois, and they’ll get that chance if they’re elected to the State Supreme Court.
Criminalizing abortion will put women’s lives at risk. To think that I could be put in jail, that women could be put in jail for making their own medical decisions. Where does this end? Mark Curran and Michael Burke are too extreme for the Illinois Supreme Court.
…Adding… We’ll just have to wait and see if they file suit. ILGOP…
Statement from ILGOP Executive Director Shaun McCabe on false and defamatory “All for Justice” TV Ad:
“The latest false TV ad from ‘All for Justice’ is even more defamatory than their first false ad. This Madigan Machine-backed group is lying about Michael Burke and Mark Curran because they’re attempting to cover up Mary K. O’Brien’s and Elizabeth Rochford’s ties to the Madigan Machine. Don’t be fooled, Illinois voters. If elected to the Supreme Court, Madigan Machine judges O’Brien and Rochford will put their political cronies before the people of Illinois.”
Former state legislator Jim Nowlan is part of the Judicial Fairness Project, and was involved with the effort to oust Kilbride after he and “his fellow Democrats sullied their robes in 2016 with a preposterous decision that knocked off the ballot a citizen’s initiative to put an independent mapping question before the voters.”
Nowlan said Democrats drew the judicial map to favor their party back in the ’60s.
“Since then, continuously, Democrats have had a majority on the Illinois Supreme Court and they have used that majority reliably to back the positions of (Chicago Ald.) Ed Burke and (former Illinois House Speaker) Mike Madigan on redistricting, term limits, pensions,” Nowlan said. “And so, it’s time for a change.”
For the first time, Illinois’ Democratic-controlled legislature and Democratic Gov. J.B. Pritzker last year redrew the Illinois Supreme Court districts, in a manner that Nowlan said will make it more difficult — but not impossible — for Republicans to win them.
He adds that the Dobbs decision overturning Roe v. Wade has changed the landscape and made it more difficult for the GOP judicial candidates.
Some Republican groups and donors that had been expected to come through with heavy funding backed away after Curran, who has never been a judge, won the primary instead of the party’s establishment-backed Lake County Judge Daniel Shanes.
They didn’t back away because he’s never been a judge, but whatevs.
Officials from different Illinois judiciary groups across the state have introduced a Declaration of Judicial Independence to inform the public of the threat of misinformation before the election.
The Illinois Judges Association, representing 1,250 sitting and retired judges in Illinois, introduced the declaration on Tuesday during a virtual meeting about the document.
The document’s purpose is to provide voters with accurate information on judicial candidates ahead of the November election.
Chicago Bar Association President Timothy Tomasik said it is an issue that has been going on for years.
“We are so concerned about the reckless and sometimes ruthless number of politically motivated attacks that have been occurring on our judiciary over the past several years,” Tomasik said.
The Chicago and Illinois Bar Associations are urging voters to consult their evaluations of the candidates, which claim to be non-partisan.
“They are not asked are you Republican or Democrat, do you like the current president or the past president, do you believe in the death penalty or not believe in the death penalty — there is nothing political about the judicial evaluation process,” Tomasik said.
A leader of the pro-abortion rights group, Personal PAC, pushed back. Terry Cosgrove said television advertising focused on what a judge has said or done about the abortion issue, including outside the courtroom, is appropriate.
* Related…
* Illinois Chief Justice Anne Burke Discusses 40-Year Legal Career as She Nears Retirement: Burke also addressed controversy surrounding her husband, Chicago Ald. Ed Burke, who is facing a federal corruption trial next year. She says that the trial “absolutely did not” influence her decision to retire. “My decision was my decision,” she says. “We’ve been married for 54 years and as I always said, for better or worse, but not for lunch. We have to figure out how to do lunch now!” When asked about how well she did in fulfilling her promise to keep her work separate from her husband’s, Burke says “perfectly. Well, not perfectly, but the best I could.”
All right, happy Columbus Day. Yes, Columbus Day, not indigenous people day. Coming to you from the site of the former Christopher Columbus statue in Grant Park. That should be backed up there. That’s a whole story in and of itself, that some civic leaders and some political leaders in this city are going to have to answer for in the coming months during election season. For their decision naively to believe the mayor that this was a temporary thing. Because here we are, two years later, still gone. Disgusting. But they allowed it. She should pay the price for having it done to begin with.
You notice they’ve never, ever hijacked any other ethnic holiday. It’s for some other purposes. Why Christopher Columbus Day? Why don’t they just create a new day for indigenous people? Christopher Columbus is supposedly responsible for the slaughter of thousands, if not more, Indians. Because he came to America, while coming to America definitely resulted in some bloodshed, no doubt. But why does Columbus get the blame for all of that? It’s ridiculous. Number one.
Number two, Christopher Columbus brought Christianity to United States. There’s no disputing that he did. Where are the religious leaders sticking up for civil and religious liberties thanks to Christopher Columbus? Nowhere to be found.
Or the Christian leaders. Where is the Cardinal? Where’s the Pope? Nowhere to be found. They’re all hypocrites. Just like the mayor and political leaders who thought it was a good idea to take these statues down. The same people who blamed Christopher Columbus for all these atrocities that were supposedly committed on behalf of modernization are the same ones that enjoy these newfound freedoms with modern civilized society.
I don’t see any of these politicians selling their houses to live in teepees, hunt buffalo or raise crops in their back yards like the Indians did. But they all want to say ‘Oh, the poor Indians.’ Okay, great. Create a day separately. You don’t have to steal someone else’s holiday to create another one. But that’s just the sad reality we’re living in today.
Otherwise, you wouldn’t be getting the freedoms, like shopping in a 24-hour Walgreens, or buying cases of Modelo in the middle of the night. But those are freedoms afforded to you, in part thanks to the civilization that Christopher Columbus helped bring to this country. Shame on you all. There will be repercussions in the elections coming forth. These hypocrites need to be accounted for and basically removed from office.
