EDWARDSVILLE - Subcircuit 1 judicial candidate Ebony Huddleston of Alton, running as a write-in candidate in the June 28 Democrat primary, returned $1,000 to attorney Beth Gori in light of state law that prohibits contributions from other states in judicial campaigns.
Gori lives in Ladue, Mo.
The law banning judicial candidates from accepting out-of-state and so-called "dark money" anonymous contributions was passed by the Democratically-controlled legislature last year.
In April, Huddleston, and fellow Democrat judicial candidate Barry Julian of Edwardsville, had to forfeit ballot positions that legislators arranged through a special subcircuit law passed in January. They announced jointly that they would run as write-in candidates in Subcircuit 1 after the nominating petitions they submitted to Madison County election officials were rejected.
A three-member Madison County electoral board found that the dates on Huddleston’s and Julian’s nominating petitions were outside the lawful circulation period.
Their petitions indicated signatures were gathered on a start date of Jan. 13.
That date would not have been contested, except for the law that created three judicial subcircuits in Madison County.
The Redistricting Act, which canceled county-wide judicial elections, was rammed through the Democratically controlled legislature late at night without public hearing on Jan. 5. Signed by Gov. JB Pritzker on Jan. 7, it established that petitions could not be circulated any earlier than 15 days after enactment - or Jan. 22.
The law is being challenged. Madison County State’s Attorney Tom Haine is set to argue against the new subcircuit law at the Fourth District Appellate Court on June 22.
Among contributions to Huddleston’s campaign committee, Gori was the first to contribute on April 13.
Former Madison County chief circuit judge Ann Callis contributed $10,000 on April 21.
Kimberly Garver of Glen Carbon contributed $1,000 on May 13.
On the same date Gori Law Firm of Edwardsville contributed $10,000.
Julian, who once was partners with the late Randy Gori, contributed $20,000 to his campaign, which to date is the only one.
As of June 7, a state election board spreadsheet showed Huddleston among few candidates who have returned contributions.
It showed $6,000 from John Driscoll’s firm of St. Louis remained in the treasury of Supreme Court candidate Elizabeth Rochford, a Lake County Democrat.
She received $1,500 from Mike Donelly of Eugene, Ore. and $1,000 from John Richtman of Burlington, Wisc.
Democrat Cook County circuit judge candidate Timothy Wright received $6,000 from William Rutledge of Little Rock and $3,000 from Kirk Dillman of Pasadena.
He received $2,600 each from Seth Wright of Gig Harbor, Wash. and James McElwee of Menlo Park, Calif., and $5,250 from 11 other outsiders.
Democrat Cook County circuit judge candidate Michael Weaver received $15,000 from Margee Weaver of Hendersonville, N.C.
He received $4,500 from 11 sources in seven states and the District of Columbia.
He returned $500 to a Virginia address and $250 to a California address.
Cook County circuit judge candidate ShawnTe Raines-Welch received $10,000 from Intensive Specialty Hospital in Shreveport, La.