A southern Illinois battle for the state Supreme Court intensified this week as Republicans countered an attack on their candidate David Overstreet with salvos against Democrat Judy Cates, whom they describe as a "liberal activist judge and Mike Madigan's pick."
At an Illinois Republican Party press conference outside the St. Clair County Courthouse this morning - peppered with interruptions from Cates' supporters - state GOP chair Tim Schneider said Cates was a "political pretender."
Cates was in the audience.
Schneider called Cates's ads portraying herself as "an independent downhome country judge who likes to shoot her guns and go fishing" a "dishonest charade."
"Southern Illinois voters deserve to know when someone is attempting to play you as a fool," Schneider said. "Judge Judy Cates is a political pretender, an actress dressed up in camo posing with a gun. Do not be fooled by her act... For over 30 years Judy Cates was an infamous trial attorney in St. Clair and Madison counties where plaintiffs from all across America go to get favorable judgments in court systems run by ambulance chasers.
"She became a millionaire collecting fees off clients who received pennies."
The campaign between Overstreet and Cates - appellate justices and colleagues at the Fifth District Appellate Court - turned sharply negative last week when Cates blasted Overstreet for his concurrence in an opinion giving a second trial to a child rapist suspect convicted in absentia by a Marion County judge in 2017. The accused, Jerad Peoples, missed his trial because he was sleeping off effects of drugs used in an attempted suicide.
Though Overstreet did not author the 3-0 panel's decision, a campaign committee funded with more than $420,000 from trial lawyers in Chicago, St. Louis, St. Clair and Madison counties - "Clean Courts Committee" - put out this ad message: “Child rapist released from Big Muddy prison by judge David Overstreet.”
On Monday, Cates stepped up calls for Overstreet to explain his reasoning in the June 22 ruling authored by Justice Milton Wharton with Overstreet and Justice John Barberis concurring.
“Overstreet can try to attack my record, but Jared (sic) Peoples is right next to you, shopping at your local grocery store," Cates said in a press release.
Cates also took issue with being labeled as a fake outdoorsperson, and challenged Overstreet to a duel.
“...Overstreet claims I pose in my hunting gear, but he knows the truth, that I hunt and fish for my hobbies,” Cates said. “I have challenged Overstreet to a shootout, but he refuses to meet me at a gun range or even show the people that he has a FOID card."
Overstreet's campaign provided the following statement regarding the Peoples decision:
" As it relates to the disgusting ad which distorts a criminal case where I was a panel member and which my opponent through her press release now owns, please see the letter penned by retired Judge David Frankland which has been sent to local papers.
"My opponents' criticism and distortion of a case in which I served on a unanimous decision is outlandish and unbecoming of a member of the Judiciary. I believe my opponent is in violation of Canon 7 A(d)(i) and Canon 3 A(7) of the Illinois Code of Judicial conduct."
State Sen. Paul Schimpf (R-Waterloo) said he too was disgusted by Cates's line of attack in the Peoples decision, and called on all judges in the district to disavow "this shameful attack."
"The opinion was not written by Justice Overstreet," he said. "It was written by Justice Milton Wharton...one of the most respected judges in southern Illinois," whom he noted served on a federal judgeship screening committee for Illinois Democrat Sens. Dick Durbin and Tammy Duckworth.
As for her disposition toward Illinois House Speaker and head of the state Democratic Party, Madigan, Cates said he should step down.
"I do not support Mike Madigan and believe he should resign," she stated. "I have accepted zero dollars from Madigan and his organization. I will go on record to say that I think Mike Madigan should step down from his position because of the obvious corruption that surrounds him. Madigan and I have not been friends and I do not believe in politics in the courtroom."
But Schimpf pointed to a $5,000 campaign contribution Cates's campaign committee gave to Madigan in April.
"Sometimes what is not said is as important as what is said," Schimpf said.
"Yesterday Judge Judy Cates put out a press release stating she received zero dollars from Mike Madigan," he said. "And I have no reason to disbelieve that, but what is important is that she neglected to mention that she had given money to Speaker Madigan....Talk is cheap and actions speak louder than words when you are donating your own money."
Congressman John Shimkus also spoke on behalf of Overstreet, saying that he will not rule from the bench, a criticism that has been leveled against Cates after she told a reporter for WSIL last week: "i want to change the Illinois supreme court. I dont want it to be as usual."
She also said: "After 30 years I thought it was time to write the law. Instead of being on the front of the bench, I wanted to be on the back of the bench."
Shimkus, whose remarks were the ones most vocally interrupted, said he was disappointed in the attempts to interfere with the press conference.
"It's just the kind of style of politics we have today, and people can't discuss the issues," he said. "They have to demonize and terrorize. It's embarrassing."