WASHINGTON - Democrat Sens. Dick Durbin and Tammy Duckworth have sent a list of names to the White House to consider for U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of Illinois: former Madison County chief judge Ann Callis, State Sen. Rachelle Crowe (D-Maryville) and Williamson County State's Attorney Brandon Zanotti.
Callis contributed $13,200 to President Biden’s campaign last year and $3,000 to Senator Dick Durbin, who leads the committee that will recommend a nominee.
Her late father Lance Callis and his firm in Granite City gave candidates $1,054,612 from 1977 to 2018, including $9,200 for Durbin from 1999 through 2013.
He gave Biden $1,000 in 1989.
His daughter has given $3,700 to Senator Tammy Duckworth, who joined Durbin in releasing the names of prospects on June 23.
No one has filled the position of U.S. attorney for the Southern District of Illinois by presidential appointment since 2015, when Stephen Wigginton resigned.
Current U.S. attorney Steven Weinhoeft holds the office by judicial appointment.
Callis, age 56, first worked as an assistant state’s attorney in St. Clair County and then took the same position in Madison County.
She made her first campaign contribution in 1993, giving $1,000 to incumbent U.S. Rep. Jerry Costello.
Circuit judges appointed her as an associate judge in 1994, at age 29.
She gave Costello’s campaign $1,000 in 1994 and again in 1995.
She ran for circuit judge in 2000, mostly spending her own money.
The firm of Wise and Julian in East Alton gave her $5,000.
Rex Carr, Sandor Korein, and Steven Tillery of East St. Louis each gave her $2,000.
She won, and mostly spent her own money to achieve retention in 2006 and 2012.
She resigned in 2013, to run for Congress against first term incumbent Rodney Davis in 2014.
He defeated her, 59 percent to 41.
She practiced at Mark Goldenberg’s firm in Edwardsville until last year, when she joined the Holland Law Firm of St. Louis.
Through the years she has contributed $49,593 to candidates for Illinois offices and $61,717 to candidates for national offices.
She gave Obama $2,000 in 2008.
She gave $4,500 to Betsy Dirksen Londrigan, who lost to Davis in 2018 and 2020.
In the most important race in Illinois last year, she contributed $2,000 to the unsuccessful retention campaign of supreme Court Justice James Kilbride.
Also last year, she gave $5,000 to Illinois Trial Lawyers Association.
She has given the Women’s Institute for Leadership Training $6,750 since 2017.
She has given the county central committee $3,650 since 1999.
Lance Callis died in 2019, having left a mark on his party.
From 1994 to 1997, he gave $45,000 to former House Speaker Michael Madigan.
From 1999 to 2006, he gave $177,950 to Illinois Democratic Party.
From 2002 to 2007, he gave $22,500 to former governor Rod Blagojevich.
From 2002 to 2017, he gave $72,700 to the Madison County Democrat central committee.
From 2002 to 2010, he gave $62,000 to former attorney General Lisa Madigan.
In his biggest contribution on the national level, he gave $150,000 to the party’s House Majority committee in 2013 and 2014.
He gave Costello $14,000 from 2001 to 2011.
He gave Bill Enyart $4,600 for two Congressional campaigns.
He gave candidate Barack Obama early support with $1,000 in February 2017, and he gave Obama $3,800 more through September 2008.
He gave Obama $2,000 in 2012.
Crowe and Zanotti
Crowe has served since 2019 as senator of the state's 56th Senate District, representing much of Madison County and part of St. Clair and Jersey Counties. She is the chairwoman of the Illinois Senate Judiciary Committee, and she has also chaired the Illinois Elder Abuse Task Force and he special committee on Opioid Crisis Abatement. From 2006-18, she worked in the Madison County State’s Attorney’s office as an assistant state’s attorney in the Violent Crime, General Felony Crimes, and Juvenile Abuse sections. She also practiced at the law firms Carmody MacDonald (2004-2006); Riezman Berger (2002-2004); and Hoagland, Fitzgerald, Smith & Praintis (2000-2002).
Zanotti has served since 2014 as the State’s Attorney for Williamson County. From 2012-2014, he served as an administrative law judge and arbitrator for the Illinois Workers’ Compensation Commission. From 2009-2012 he practiced law at the firm Feirich/Mager/Green/Ryan in Carbondale. He has served as an assistant professor of practice at SIU School of Law since 2018, teaching courses in pre-trial advocacy and client counseling.
Durbin and Duckworth also made recommendations for U.S. Marshal at the Southern District of Illinois.
Brad Maxwell: Maxwell has served as the U.S. Marshal for the Southern District of Illinois since being confirmed by the U.S. Senate in 2018. From 2013-2017, he served as a member of the Madison County board. From 2011-2018, he worked for Boeing as a chief of Uniform Security. He served in the Air Force from 1991-2011, rising to the rank of Master Sergeant and deploying to Iraq in 2005 where he worked on counterintelligence measures to help secure the trial of Saddam Hussein, and again in 2009, for which he was awarded the Bronze Star Medal for combat operations.
David Davis: Davis has been an inspector and Task Force officer for the Illinois State Police/ Metropolitan Enforcement Group of Southwestern Illinois (MEGSI), based in Fairview Heights, since 2017. He served as a supervisory deputy U.S. Marshal in the SDIL from 2005-2016, as a U.S. Marshals Service Witness Security Inspector from 2003-2004, and as a deputy U.S. Marshal in the Southern District of Illinois from 1994-2003. He also served in the U.S. Army Reserve and National Guard for 27 years. He served as a Special Forces Non-commissioned Officer, deployed to Kosovo and twice to Afghanistan, and was awarded the Bronze Star Medal.