Campaign finance committees of Democratic candidates for circuit and appellate court races report contributions from law firms that received Payroll Protection Program (PPP) funds from the federal government.
Madison County Circuit Judge Sarah Smith, seeking a seat at the Fifth District Appellate Court, received the maximum allowable corporate limit - $11,600 - from the Gori firm of Edwardsville on Aug. 26 and same from Walton Telken of Edwardsvillle on Aug. 11.
Under the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (CARES) Act adopted by Congress in March, the $659 billion PPP stimulus was intended to provide forgiveable loans to businesses to guarantee eight weeks of payroll and overhead.
The Gori firm, the nation's leading asbestos firm, received between $2-5 million PPP funds to provide for 194 workers, according to data released by the Small Business Administration and Treasury Department, and published in the Washington Post in early July. The database does not provide exact loan amounts, only a range.
Walton Telken, a personal injury and car accident firm operating in Illinois and Missouri, received between $150,000-350,000 to provide for 12 workers.
Smith is running against sitting Fifth District Appellate Court Justice Mark Boie, Republican, who reported receiving $500 from the Law Office of Brian K. Zirkelbach of Murphysboro on June 29.
The Zirkelbach firm did not receive PPP funds, according to the SBA database.
In the race to fill the seat of retired judge Dave Hylla, sitting Madison County State's Attorney Tom Gibbons, Democrat, received $2,500 from Walton Telken.
He also received $1,000 from Byron Carlson Petri & Kalb of Edwardsville, a firm that handles personal injury, business and estate and general litigation. The firm received between $150,000-350,000 from PPP to provide for 12 workers.
He received $1,000 from the full service Goldenberg law firm of Edwardsville. The firm, which had formerly been among the biggest asbestos firms operating in Madison County, received between $150,000-350,000 in PPP funds to provide for 38 workers.
He received $500 from Tor Hoerman Law, an injury firm in Edwardsville. The firm received between $150,000-350,000 in PPP funds to provide for 22 workers.
He received $250 from Chicago-based Tressler law firm, which has an office in Edwardsville. Tressler received between $2-5 million in PPP funds to provide for 135 workers.
Challenging Gibbons is attorney Amy Maher, Republican, currently director of operations for the Catholic Charities Legal Services and who had served as an assistant State’s Attorney for 23 years. Maher has so far self funded her campaign with $6,000.
As reported in July, many area law firms, plaintiff and defense, received PPP funding.