Judge Weber
As the war of words heats up in a contentious judicial battle, Madison County Circuit Judge Don Weber called attorney Dave Hylla's "chameleon-like attempts to hide from his own record" phony and superficial.
Weber fired shots after Hylla held a press conference at the county's Democratic headquarters touting the support of a handful of Democratic defense attorneys including Stephen Mudge, the brother of Madison County State's Attorney, Bill Mudge.
"Naturally Hylla can find a handful of defense lawyers, who also generate millions of dollars in legal fees when Hylla drags asbestos cases into the Madison County Courts, happy with the grand lifestyle the broken court system provides them," Weber said.
Weber said Hylla practices "business as usual" in Madison County and has raised the most ever in an Illinois circuit judge election.
In fact the amount of money Hylla has so far raised -- more than $400,000 -- is on par with the Democratic candidate running in the Fifth Appellate Court race.
"Nearly 90 percent of this money has come from the plaintiffs' personal injury lawyers who have run our county courts for the last 30 years," Weber said. "The contributions he has accepted come from the very people who have made our court system a judicial hellhole."
Weber also noted that Hylla refused to resign from the Illinois Trial Lawyers Association, despite the fact it is unethical for a judicial candidate to be a member.
Weber also said judging by Hylla's past actions, he would be "another George Moran Jr."
"Over the past six years, Moran was operating a questionable campaign fund although he was not running for office and was precluded by judicial ethics from raising money," Weber said. "Moran had his treasurer, David Hylla, write checks out of campaign funds, for numerous personal expenses and donations."
According to Weber, Hylla wrote more than $2,520 in checks for Moran for "non-itemized expenditures."
"The public has a right to know what the checks were written for," Weber said. "We do not need another judge who will take Spanish classes on court time or cruise the Internet for girlfriends."
Weber said the election is about the money and power of Dave Hylla and the continuation of the plaintiff trial lawyers.
"If voters are happy with the way the court system has been run for the last 30 years they should vote for him," he added. "If not, vote for me."