http://www.suntimes.com/output/elect/cst-nws-judges21.html

3 late-filing judges likely to be on ballot

December 21, 2005

BY STEVE PATTERSON Staff Reporter

An embarrassing blemish in the annals of Cook
County's judicial history
-- that's all that's likely to become of the case of
three judges who,
state officials said, failed to file their paperwork
for re-election
before a state-mandated deadline.

Joan Margaret O'Brien, Carole Kamin Bellows and
James A. Varga are all
likely to appear on the 2006 ballot, despite
objections filed by the
Illinois secretary of state's office, which wouldn't
accept their
paperwork after Dec. 5.

Tuesday, Cook County Judge Patrick McGann granted
the three judges a
temporary restraining order barring the state from
declaring any
vacancies or accepting nominating petitions from
anyone else.

Differing rules for filing deadline

McGann said the three judges "are likely to succeed
on the merits of
their claim," paving the way for a hearing next
month, where they will
formally ask for an opinion.

At issue is an apparent discrepancy between a
section of the Illinois
Election Code and the state Constitution, McGann
said.

The Constitution allows judges until May to declare
their candidacy for
retention in the November election but state law
says they must file
that notice "on or before the first Monday in
December" before an
election year.

Though McGann cited the "laxity and carelessness"
the three judges
showed in filing paperwork after Dec. 5, he also
said the discrepancy
means he's likely to issue a ruling in their favor.
Citing the differing
rules, the three sued to get on the retention
ballot. Two have
acknowledged they didn't file in time because they
forgot.

The decision ended a "very traumatic" week for
O'Brien, said her
attorney, Mathias Delort, while Bellows' attorney,
Burt Odelson, said he
expects a "good, responsible" legislator will work
to change the
language of the election law.

The judges are up for retention votes every six
years. O'Brien, a
juvenile court judge; Varga, a law division judge,
and Bellows, who
works in domestic relations, must now get 60 percent
of the vote in
order to remain on the bench.

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