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Supreme Court campaign documentary

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The producer of this documentary about the Supreme Court race in southern Illinois sent me an e-mail today to say that some “rough cuts” from the movie would be posted at his site soon.

The filmmakers are causing a bit of a stir in the race. According to the Post-Dispatch, Judge Lloyd Karmeier has refused to be interviewed and Justice Maag only grudgingly allowed them a brief interview.

A little background from the film’s website:

The “Madison County Documentary” (working title) is a work-in-progress by filmmaker Wayne Ewing about the 2004 race for the Supreme Court in Madison County, Illinois. Democrat Fifth District Appellate Justice Gordon Maag is running against Republican Circuit Judge Lloyd Karmeier in a race that is attracting national attention. The US Chamber of Commerce has pledged to spend $50 million dollars defeating selected judges around America in 2004 (”The Secret War On Judges” - Forbes Magazine.

The correspondent is Paul Johnson, a television reporter with KUSA (NBC affiliate) of Denver. Producer is Wayne Ewing, who has “produced and directed over fifty documentaries for American television networks.”

Here’s a snippet from the Post-Dispatch article:

“I’m a serious filmmaker trying to do objective filmmaking about this race,” Ewing said.

But the Karmeier camp is convinced that Ewing has brought a liberal agenda to the project. They have refused to cooperate on the film.

“The Karmeier people turn away and duck every time a camera gets near,” Ewing said.

Steve Tomaszewski, a spokesman for the Karmeier campaign, said he suspects Ewing plans a “Michael Moore kind of film,” referring to the director of the anti-George W. Bush film “Fahrenheit 9/11.”

“I believe they are going after situations that are designed not to put our side in the best light,” he said.

Maag, on the other hand, reluctantly granted the crew about 20 minutes of taping time, said Brendan Hostetler, spokesman for Maag.

“Justice Maag’s feeling is they (the Ewing crew) are there, he wishes they weren’t, and we’ll agree to move on,” he said.

posted by Rich Miller
Monday, Oct 18, 04 @ 5:39 pm

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