Legal profession prospers, business suffers

To the Editor:

In recent weeks judges extolled their virtues asking for your vote.

Citizens for Judicial Integrity urges you to vote no retention for Callis, Crowder, Hylla, and Knight.

For example, Judge Hylla takes responsibility for instituting a medical malpractice mediation program. The only reason this program is necessary is because of the reputation of the Madison County Courts which drove hundreds of doctors from the county and continues to be responsible for incredibly high medical malpractice insurance which keeps doctors from coming here.

Madison County has five doctors per 10,000 while the rest of the state has eight per 10,000. Hylla seems to be congratulating himself for providing a weak antidote to the poison the judges administer.

Crowder stated, "My legal ability is not disputed.” May I humbly ask, if Crowder’s legal ability is not disputed then why did the chief judge remove her from asbestos docket citing, "the public’s concern for a fair and unbiased judiciary?”

Judge Knight recently stated, "The attorneys who work with us every day recommend we should be retained.” Small wonder, since lawyers gave huge donations totaling hundreds of thousands of dollars in 2006 to elect them and profited from an asbestos lawsuit explosion afterwards!

The legal profession prospers while small business and doctors suffer.

Judge Callis points to the new reform procedures for selecting the asbestos docket. Unfortunately, nothing has changed as the law suit explosion continues with only one in 10 cases coming from Illinois.

Our county is a Judicial Hellhole ranked fifth worst in the nation. Please Vote NO RETENTION for Callis, Crowder, Hylla, and Knight. Visit NORETENTION.COM

Philip W. Chapman
Highland