Wouldn't it be something if we could trust government when they tell us "this bill" needs to pass because "it will make things better?"
When such vital laws are passed in the wee hours of the morning, without a scintilla of public input or support, you can bet it's only going to make things better for a select few.
As our parents used to advise when we were young and reckless, nothing good happens after midnight. That admonishment makes sense to us as responsible adults who in the light of day demand an accounting from lawmakers regarding why they were out so late last night and what they were doing...and then it becomes clear that our little cavorters are trying to get their stories straight among co-conspirators.
The "story" manufactured by sponsors of the Judicial Circuits Redistricting Act of 2022 - which carves Madison County's judiciary into three subcircuits - was "more diversity is needed on the bench."
If they were honest they'd say it was actually done to preserve a Democratic majority on the Madison County judiciary, a place that has been dubbed many times a "judicial hellhole." They would admit that the subcircuit boundaries were drawn in such a way as to ensure that the residences of two specific Democrats were gerrymandered in, and two specific Republicans were gerrymandered out of the new Subcircuit 1.
They'd also say they didn't want to leave it to you, the voters, to decide because you'd elect conservatives, giving Republicans the majority on the Madison County bench.
A major flaw in their diversity excuse is this: Democrats have had 50-plus years in control and they could have supported more women, persons of color, marginalized persons who have faced oppression, or any other demographic characteristic worthy of representation for associate judge or for election as circuit judge. They did not.
That brings us to one of three judicial races upcoming this November, as we wonder what kind of diversity Democrat judicial candidate Barry Julian brings to the bench.
He looks like a privileged, rich white guy who has the blessing of a sitting United States Senator (who oddly has the time and interest to weigh in on a local judicial election when there are more urgent matters facing the nation). Julian lives in a very well-to-do neighborhood, yet his address was drawn into the minority, working class Subcircuit 1 in the western portion of the county that hugs the Mississippi River.
Julian has already had a shot at being judge, but he quit two and a half years before his associate judge term would have ended.
His bio in a nutshell: Dentist, turned asbestos lawyer, retired from his law firm in 2015, moved to Florida, but decided to return in January of 2019 to vie for an associate judge seat with heavy lobbying from Senator Dick Durbin. He was selected in a secret vote among circuit judges over many other more qualified candidates who at least lived in the state, and in the circuit.
And now, in this year's election for circuit judge, despite having a stacked deck handed on a platter via the new Redistricting law, Julian bungled it. He failed to comply with the allowable dates for signatures, and when the legally constituted electoral board rightly struck him from the ballot for being unable or unwilling to read the law - a trait seemingly indispensable to a judge - he claimed Republican partisanship as an excuse for his ineptitude.
His secondary resort to the write-in ballot may have issues as well, but that may be another story for another day.
With constitutional challenges to the Redistricting law not likely to change this year's ballot, it's now up to voters in Subcircuit 1 (one-third of the total county electorate) to pick who they will bestow with the awesome powers that come with being a judge - powers that include the most severely consequential to citizens, such as taking away money, children and indeed one's liberty.
In May, Julian was given poor ratings in "Integrity" by his fellow lawyers in an Illinois State Bar Association poll, just one factor Subcircuit 1 voters should take into account.
Another factor voters should take into serious consideration is that the shameful Redistricting law, that no one who matters asked for, was passed when no one was looking. It stripped away the rights of two-thirds of Madison County voters to decide who they want to be their judges.
Barry Julian does not deserve being anointed judge through special legislation that specifically benefits him.