The review board of the state's lawyer discipline commission has recommended a 30-day suspension for Belleville attorney Margaret Lowery stemming from a role she played in the anti-retention campaign against St. Clair County Chief Circuit Judge Andrew Gleeson in 2018.
Her attorney called the decision "over regulation of a lawyer's right to speak freely in a private conversation" and an "improper expansion" of a Supreme Court rule regarding lawyer speech on the qualification or integrity of a judge.
The Oct. 13 decision affirmed one portion of the Attorney Registration and Discipline Commission (ARDC) hearing board finding that Lowery made false statements to the ARDC while a complaint Gleeson filed against Lowery was being investigated.
The review board also reversed the hearing board's conclusion that remarks Lowery made during a phone conversation with an operator at Go Daddy, while setting up the "Firetheliar" website, did not "impugn" Gleeson's integrity. Reviewers found that Lowery’s statement about political candidate Gleeson violated Rule 8.2(a).
While finding more violations, the review panel recommended a lighter suspension than the hearing board - 30 versus 60 days.
In its charges against Lowery, the ARDC included portions of a conversation Lowery had with a Go Daddy operator.
The operator said, “You hope these people read and do the right thing, right?”
Lowery said, “If you only knew.”
The operator said she glanced through the website and Lowery said, “It’s not a very nice person and he’s done a lot of things to hurt a lot of people.”
Lowery said politics was a blood sport in this part of the United States.
“I will tell you how evil it is,” Lowery said. “They attempted to set up another judge of a different political party for murder if that tells you anything.”
The operator said wow, and Lowery said, “This is the guy who orchestrated it.”
ARDC administrator Peter Rotskoff wrote, “Judge Gleeson never engaged in the conduct which respondent described to the operator.”
Lowery's attorney Adrian Vuckovich of Chicago said in a statement that he disagreed with both findings of the review board.
He said Lowery did not make false statements about her involvement in the campaign against Gleeson's retention.
"In fact, during the sworn statement, Ms. Lowery admitted her involvement in the campaign and website for the campaign, stating: "'I showed them how to do it and then told them I didn't want to be party to it,'" Vuckovich said. "Ms. Lowery also acknowledged that the initial email address for the Facebook page and campaign website was an email address that she owned.
"Admitting actual involvement in the campaign cannot be false testimony that Ms. Lowery was not involved."
As to the recommendation finding Lowery violated Rule 8.2(a) by making "false or reckless statements about a judge's integrity," Vuckovich said the finding is an improper expansion of the rule.
"Ms. Lowery did not identify the judge by name or implication so that the decision amounts to a regulation of an unexpressed thought," he said.
Lowery said she would appeal the findings and the expansion of Rule 8.2(a) because of its "significant restriction of political speech of attorneys."
"This new rule will basically bar the ISBA from conducting judicial candidate polls, because they actively seek negative opinions regarding judicial qualifications in violation of this expanded rule," she stated.
"I fully expect that every attorney who received a negative review through the ISBA judicial survey will now file a complaint against anyone who responded negatively. Next, by its very nature, if negative speech is prohibited, under the Equal Protection Clause, so will positive political speech about a judicial candidate.
"This ruling effectively ends any attorney’s right to engage in judicial elections."