From Democrat-supported state legislation passing in the middle of the night without public input to Republicans sweeping Madison County elections, 2022 came with its ups and downs.
As the year comes to an end, let’s take a look at some of the biggest moments and hottest topics from the past 12 months.
Judicial Circuits Districting Act of 2022
Two-thirds of Madison County voters were precluded from voting for countywide circuit judges thanks to the Judicial Circuits Districting Act of 2022, which was rammed through the Democratically-controlled state legislature in the middle of the night on Jan. 5 without public debate.
The law restructured elections so that Madison County circuit judges - eight of them - are elected by voters only per subcircuit rather than countywide.
The dramatic changes forged by Democrat lawmakers in Springfield impacted Madison County elections this year, rather than allowing time for local election officials and candidates to prepare for future elections.
The law was also written so that the first three vacancies would occur in Subcircuit 1. Elections for the subsequent three vacancies will take place in Subcircuit 2 with the next two occurring in Subcircuit 3.
Two Republican incumbents - Madison County Circuit Judges Chris Threlkeld and Amy Sholar - were pushed out of contention when the boundaries were drawn away from their residents. They moved in order to be eligible to run. However, the boundaries were drawn in a gerrymandered way to include the residences of the Democratic judicial candidates.
Madison County State’s Attorney Tom Haine filed suit in Sangamon County Circuit Court seeking to stop implementation of the subcircuit law. In February, Sangamon County Circuit Judge Ryan Cadigan dismissed the lawsuit, and Haine appealed. The appellate court upheld the law.
Haine filed a petition for leave to appeal to the Illinois Supreme Court, which was denied.
However, Haine said the litigation represented an important example of a principled stand by Madison County’s government.
“We showed through this litigation that when extreme laws are passed by the General Assembly that undermine Madison County’s sense of good government and fair and equal rights, we will not go quietly into the night. We will fight back, like we did here, with every legal means at our disposal,” Haine said.
Election results
Despite the gerrymandered subcircuit law, Republican candidates for Madison County circuit judge won all three vacancies.
Circuit Judge Chris Threlkeld defeated attorney Barry Julian, Circuit Judge Amy Sholar defeated attorney Ebony Huddleston and Circuit Judge Tim Berkley defeated Associate Judge Ryan Jumper.
Threlkeld, who had lived in Edwardsville, and Sholar, who had lived in Godfrey, had to move away from their residences in order to be eligible to run for the seats they held by appointment of the Illinois Supreme Court, as lawmakers drew them out of Subcircuit 1 where the contest was decided.
With the election of Threlkeld, Sholar and Berkley, the majority on the Madison County bench is now 5-4 Republican to Democrat. A local historian believes this may be the first time in Madison County history that the GOP has held the majority.
Voters across Madison County also rejected the subcircuit law by a margin of 86-14 percent.
In St. Clair County, however, both circuit court vacancies were flipped with Democrats winning the election. The seats were previously held by Republicans Ron Duebbert and Stephen McGlynn, who now serves as a federal judge.
Democrat Associate Judges Kevin Hoerner and Patrick Foley defeated their Republican rivals, attorney Paul Evans and former Circuit Judge William Stiehl.
Democrats have maintained control of the St. Clair County judiciary for decades, with Republicans making gains only in the election of McGlynn in 2014 and Duebbert in 2016.
In Madison County, Republicans also strengthened their majority on the county board after it was downsized by 10 percent last year. The board is now 18-8 Republican to Democrat. There were 10 contested seats with an additional 13 Republicans and three Democrats running unopposed.
Republicans also flipped several other local seats. For Madison County Clerk, former county clerk Debbie Ming-Mendoza lost her bid to Republican newcomer Linda Andreas. Former Madison County board member Erica Harriss, a Republican, defeated Democrat Kris Tharp for Illinois Senate District 56 after Tharp was selected to complete former Sen. Rachelle Crowe’s term. Also, Republican Kevin Schmidt defeated three term incumbent Democrat LaToya Greenwood for the 114th House District.
Vote fraud
In June, former Madison County Clerk Debbie Ming-Mendoza reported to law enforcement officials that a team of election judges discovered suspected vote fraud on Democratic write-in ballots for the June 28 primary election.
An investigation into the allegations was opened on Aug. 18 and remains under seal by order of former chief judge Bill Mudge. The investigation is being handled by the Illinois Attorney General’s Office after Madison County State’s Attorney Tom Haine claimed a conflict of interest existed with his office.
A team of Republican and Democrat election judges raised concerns after discovering the same handwriting for write-in candidates while processing the mail-in ballots during the primary election. Roughly 39 ballots from various precincts in Madison County were flagged. Those ballots were not counted in the election totals.
Ordinance removing Madison County chairman’s powers
On July 6, the Madison County Board voted 19-6 to remove nearly all of Chairman Kurt Prenzler’s “substantive powers within county board administration.”
The ordinance to amend “personnel policies for County Board appointed officials and department heads and certain Madison County ordinances” was addressed during a special meeting.
“All of the powers granted the chairman by state law will remain in place, but his powers relating to county administration, which were within the exclusive authority of the board, were removed,” a press release by several board members stated.
Opponents of the ordinance argued that taxpayers were not given a chance to weigh in on the issue.
Guy, who was one of the board members who signed the petition for a special meeting, voted against the ordinance, saying he supported the Madison County voters who elected Prenzler.
“The County Board Chairman position was created to be a voice and a vote for the taxpayers,” he said.
“Silencing the voters’ choice in the middle of his term goes against the wishes of the voters that elected him to serve. This isn’t about defending Mr. Prenzler or anybody, this is about protecting the chairmanship,” he added.
The newly elected county board voted again on the issue during the Dec. 21 board meeting. They voted 16-10 not to restore the chairman's administrative powers.
Judicial Hellhole
After a consistent presence on “Judicial Hellholes” report by the American Tort Reform Association (ATRA), Madison and St. Clair Counties were moved from Hellhole status to the “Dishonorable Mentions” list.
ATRA wrote that issues “plaguing” these courts have “narrowed.”
In the past 19 years, Madison County has appeared on the annual Hellhole list 14 times and its "watch list" four times. The court gained notoriety in 2004 as a haven for class actions and medical malpractice lawsuits, on top of a growing asbestos docket.
Madison County continues to be the nation’s epicenter of asbestos litigation, as it has for nearly two decades, with St. Clair County trailing behind as the second biggest docket.
Masks and COVID-19 vax mandates
When 2022 began, COVID-19 mitigations were still heavily enforced in Illinois.
Masks were still required in schools and disputes over forced vaccination were occurring all over the state.
Illinois Attorney General candidate Tom DeVore challenged school mask mandates in a lawsuit filed in the Sangamon County Circuit Court. In early February, Circuit Judge Raylene Grischow issued a temporary restraining order (TRO) forbidding Gov. J.B. Pritzker from forcing students, teachers and others to wear masks in school buildings.
Schools resisted at first, saying the TRO only applied to named plaintiffs. However, parents pushed back and schools began lifting mandates by mid-February.
On Feb. 15, the Illinois Joint Committee on Administrative Rules (JCAR) rejected Pritzker's request to extend his “emergency rules.” Citing Grischow’s order, JCAR declared Pritzker’s “emergency rules” null and void, and an illegal attempt to sidestep the law, trampling the due process rights of students, parents and educators alike, in the way the rules were imposed.
Pritzker appealed to the Illinois Supreme Court, which was dismissed as moot. The court also vacated Grishcow’s order following JCAR’s decision. Justices Michael Burke and David Overstreet published a written dissent, saying the Democrat-majority should have addressed the question of whether Pritzker violated the law in how he imposed the mask mandates and other COVID-19 restrictions in Illinois schools.
In addition to mask mandates, several lawsuits have been filed in opposition to vaccination requirements.
Most recently, a student in a sonography program at John A. Logan College, a former correctional officer in Centralia and a security guard at the Good Samaritan Hospital of Mount Vernon have challenged COVID-19 requirements and restrictions.
Plaintiffs have been terminated from their employment and forced out of school due to the mandates, which they argue violates their constitutional freedom.
“I put my faith and trust in God and his son Jesus Christ to provide healing and keep me healthy,” Luke Wegmenn wrote in his suit against Logan College.
He quoted the first letter to the Corinthians that, “Your body is a temple of the Holy Ghost which is in you, whom you have from God, and you are not your own.”
Despite these challenges, Pritzker continues to declare a COVID-19 disaster in Illinois, extending his executive powers for the 37th time on Dec. 8.
Mike Madigan’s charges
After decades of leading the state’s Democratic Party and General Assembly, former Illinois House Speaker and political powerhouse Mike Madigan was criminally indicted on March 2.
According to a 22-page indictment, Madigan was accused of leading a criminal racketeering enterprise. He used his political power to steer profits to friends, political allies, himself and his law firm - Madigan & Getzendanner.
Madigan accepted bribes from electrical utility ComEd in exchange for his help in pushing through new laws in ComEd’s interest and killing laws opposed by the utility company.
Then on Oct. 14, federal prosecutors charged Madigan and his political ally Michael McClain with allegedly collecting bribes from AT&T in exchange for securing legislation that would favor the telephone company.
According to the charges, Madigan arranged for an unknown member of his political organization, referred to as Individual FR-1, to receive $22,500 from AT&T.
SAFE-T Act
The Illinois Safety, Accountability, Fairness and Equity-Today (SAFE-T) Act was signed into law by Gov. J.B. Pritzker on Feb. 22. The law eliminates cash bail and is expected to release half of Madison County inmates awaiting trial.
The bill also implements new standards for police use of force and creates stricter body camera regulations, among other unfunded mandates. It also allows for anonymous complaints against police officers without any legal proof or affidavits.
The 764-page legislation was approved in under 40 minutes during a lame-duck session. It received support only from Illinois Democrats, but received bi-partisan opposition.
Madison County State’s Attorney Tom Haine called the SAFE-T Act the “greatest jailbreak in Madison County history.”
In November, Haine joined a bi-partisan group of 62 Illinois State’s Attorneys suing to overturn the SAFE-T Act in Kankakee County court. They argue that the provisions violate the state’s constitution and disenfranchise Illinoisans by denying them the right to vote on changes to the state constitution.
A hearing was held on Dec. 20 before Kankakee County Circuit Judge Thomas Cunnington, who has not yet ruled on the issue.