(Editor's note: This article has been updated to reflect that there is a current sitting elected judge who lives in Subcircuit 1, Stephen Stobbs).
In spite of four Democrat county board members supporting legal action against the gerrymandering of Madison County's judiciary, the head of the county Democrat organization denounced a resolution passed Thursday as a "sham."
"The fake outrage of the Republican led Madison County Board was on full display again last night with another sham resolution that rewards their big dollar donors while harming the working class residents of the county," says a release issued Friday by Madison County Democratic Chair Randy Harris.
The Democratically controlled state legislature on Jan. 5 passed the bill dividing Madison County into three subcircuits, without Republican support. It was enacted by Gov. J.B. Pritzker on Jan. 7.
“What a sad day for our county, when a handful of political elites can try to take opportunities away from our working-class residents. The fact of the matter is, the move to create sub-circuits within the Third Judicial Circuit was intended to give MORE representation to areas of the county. Not one currently elected Circuit Judge currently lives within one of the newly created sub-circuits, which happens to be the working-class and minority areas of the county."
In fact, there is an elected circuit judge who does live in the newly drawn Subcircuit 1 - a district that lines the Mississippi from Alton south to the county's southern border. Circuit Judge Stephen Stobbs, Republican, lives in an area of Godfrey included in Subcircuit 1.
The resolution, which calls for State's Attorney Tom Haine to consider voter suppression legal action, passed on a bi-partisan 20-2 vote at a specially called meeting.
Democrat board members Bill Stoutenborough of Alton, Gussie Glasper of Madison, Elizabeth Dalton of Collinsville, Matthew King of East Alton and Robert Pollard of East Alton voted for the resolution.
Democrats Victor Valentine and Jack Minner, both from Edwardsville, were the two no votes against the resolution.
Democrats Doc Holliday, Sr. and Bruce Malone, both from Alton, Christopher Hankins of Pontoon Beach and Nick Petrillo of Granite City were absent from the meeting.
Negative reaction to the law, which passed without public hearing or input from local court officials, has not been exclusively Republican.
The director of the Administrative Office of the Illinois Courts, Democrat Marcia Meis, called the legislation creating subcircuits in Madison County and other courts "an unmitigated disaster" in a memo to Illinois chief judges.
Thursday's special board meeting followed a county Judiciary Committee meeting on Jan. 7 where members condemned the bill as "apalling" and a "power grab."
Madison County Chief Judge Bill Mudge, Democrat, appeared before Judiciary and said that he was not consulted about the bill before it was passed. He said he learned about the bill "like everybody else" by reading media coverage.
Retired Madison County circuit judge James Hackett, Republican, called the law an "indefensible assault upon our Courts and our Madison County voters."
"This new law brings political interference and attacks to the Court system and will almost assuredly result in bitter and expensive election fights, the near certain and frequent removal of judges by retention losses, wholesale replacement of associate judges, and real damage to the trust and prestige we grant to the Courts," Hackett wrote in a letter to the editor. "Some good judges will not seek to stay and face the vicious politics; and bad judges may be untouchable and remain. None of this is good for anyone in the county."
Harris's release also states:
“It’s not a coincidence that this Republican led effort to disenfranchise an area of the county is made up of working-class, union, and minority voters.
"Two Republicans have announced their intention to move into the First Judicial Sub-Circuit to seek election. The local Republicans think so little of the people Alton, Granite City, Wood River, East Alton, Pontoon Beach, Madison, and Venice that they’re parachuting in two people who don’t live there to run.
“It’s also the height of hypocrisy for this Republican board, to talk about last minute maps and districts when the republican led board passed a gerrymandered County Board redistricting effort with no hearings, no meetings, no public input, no input from ANY Democratic member, on the day before Christmas. The republicans are at it again with this effort to try to disenfranchise voters.
“Frankly, we didn’t need a resolution to know that (board chairman) Kurt Prenzler and the Republicans on this County Board are against more diversity and inclusion on the bench, the special meeting and resolution it’s just another waste of taxpayer dollars."
Democrats have held majority control of the Madison County judiciary for many decades.
The majority gets to decide who is appointed or re-appointed to the circuit's 13 associate judge bench once every four years. The next appointment process takes place in May 2023.
When asked why the new subcircuit law was needed when the majority can appoint as many minorities to the associate bench as they see fit, or whether the county Democrats had ever slated a Black judicial candidate, Harris responded:
"Focusing solely on the racial components of the judiciary is misplaced.
"Every county in Illinois with over 150,000 residents has some form of sub-circuiting in place. The intention of sub-circuiting is to increase opportunities for representation in communities that are under-represented.
"I can't speak to the past, but right now the opportunity exists for someone who lives in an area with no elected Circuit Judges to become a Circuit Judge."