A Cook County judge that ran as a Democrat in 1998 and was retained twice in her circuit judgeship ruled Tuesday against State Comptroller Leslie Munger and with Attorney General Lisa Madigan that state employees may not be paid on July 15th unless a state budget is in place.
Circuit Court Judge Diane Joan Larsen’s ruling in accord with the attorney general, who is also the daughter of longtime Democrat House Speaker Mike Madigan, sets on edge the ongoing budget battle between the governor and Madigan, who is also the state’s Democratic Party leader.
Larsen’s ruling with the Madigan’s was no surprise to Cook County Republican Party chairman Chris Cleveland. Cook County judges are overwhelmingly loyal Democrats.
“The system of selecting judges in Cook County is utterly corrupt,” Cleveland told Illinois Review Tuesday.
The candidates for judges in Democrat Party-dominated Cook County are slated by the Cook County Democrat Party, and loyal Democrats rarely challenge those endorsements. If the judges play the judgeship game in a way that pleases the party chiefs, there are benefits in the cases they’re assigned and the courts they oversee.
The state’s judicial system is politicized, even up to the Illinois Supreme Court, where House Speaker Mike Madigan has four elected Democrats and three Republicans on the bench. The Democrat judges were elected with campaign donations from the Democratic Party and its chairman, Mike Madigan, as well as unions and trial lawyers.
“The positions are political and their decisions are political,” Cleveland said. “They’re not determined by the rule of law, but the rule of man. Everything we fought for as a country to have independent branches of government has been set aside in Cook County”s judicial system.”
Illinois Comptroller Leslie Munger said Tuesday she respectfully disagreed with Judge Larsen’s ruling, and pointed to two rulings in 2009 and 2007 that allowed employees to be paid in the midst of budget negotiations. The only difference is that at that time, the governors were Democrats.
Munger will appeal the ruling.
“We went to Court to ensure my office can comply with federal law and compensate employees for services they are already providing to the state,” Munger said in a statement. “My office will soon file an appeal to today’s decision and will provide further information as it becomes available.”
Leave a Comment
COMMENTS POLICY: We have no tolerance for messages of violence, racism, vulgarity, obscenity or other such discourteous behavior. Thank you for contributing to a respectful and useful online dialogue.