St. Clair County Associate Judge Chris Kolker's campaign committee raised more than $100,000 in the last quarter of 2017 as he seeks election to the vacancy left by circuit judge Robert LeChien who died in August.
Kolker, Democrat, faces no opposition in the March primary. His Republican challenger in the November election, former associate judge Laninya Cason, has not established a campaign finance committee.
Much of the cash going into the Committee to Elect Judge Kolker came from area asbestos and personal injury attorneys such as Gori & Julian of Edwardsville, which contributed $6,000 and another $1,000 each from its attorneys Todd Mathews and Sara Salger; Becker, Hoerner, Thompson & Ysursa of Belleville contributed $5,000; the Keefe firm in Swansea contributed $3,000; Marcus Raichle of Maune, Raichle, Hartley, French & Mudd contributed $2,500; the Simmons firm in Alton contributed $1,000 with two of its attorneys Ted Gianaris and Perry Browder each contributing $500; Cates Mahoney of Belleville contributed $1,000 and the Law Offices of Christopher Cueto contributed $500.
Mathews serves as Kolker's campaign chair.
Kolker was appointed associate judge in 2013, having come from a firm that specialized in personal injury, insurance, bad faith and worker's compensation cases.