Primary judicial winners deny undue influence
Shipplett, Rehn curious about ISBA poll, too
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Thursday, May 4, 2006
GALESBURG - The candidates who won their respective primaries in March said Wednesday they had nothing to do with an alleged attempt to influence the results of a judicial poll released before the March 21 primary.Republican John Rehn and Democrat Scott Shipplett will face off in November to see who will replace Judge Harry Bulkeley, who is retiring, as the Knox County resident circuit judge.
Shipplett said he feels "there is the assumption that both of us were engaged in this, or at least one of us."
"I sort of feel my character has been attacked," Rehn said Wednesday. "Not so much by the letter, but by the article in The Zephyr."
Four of the nine candidates in the primary - Republicans Steve Watts and Sherry Lawson-Sanchez, and Democrats Bill Butts Jr. and David McCrery III - sent a letter to the Illinois Bar Association questioning what they called "a major irregularity" in the ISBA poll. The candidates are concerned that 45 of the 143 ballots in the poll were requested by either non-ISBA members in the Ninth Judicial Circuit or ISBA members outside the circuit, which could be an attempt "to improperly influence the results" of the poll. Ballots are automatically sent to ISBA members within the circuit.
Watts said Tuesday the attorneys who sent the letter were not accusing any specific individual or group of wrongdoing but want some answers.
Shipplett, said, "My hands are ultra clean." He said he resigned from the ISBA in December and didn't vote in the poll.
Rehn, Shipplett and Karl Johnson were the only candidates receiving a score high enough to be "recommended" in the ISBA poll, although Kimberly Norton received a score of 62.5 percent, reportedly just one vote short of the 65 percent recommendation level.
Twenty-eight of the 45 ballots requested were returned. The percentage of those ballots returned - 62 percent - was less than the percentage of all ballots returned - 68 percent. The percentage of ballots automatically sent that were returned was even more, 69 percent.
"I think most people assumed all of them (requested ballots) were voted," Rehn said.
A serious matter
The attorneys asked the ISBA for certain documents, including the names of the 45 individuals who asked for ballots, and for the ISBA to cooperate with them on a joint investigation.
ISBA Assistant Executive Director David Anderson said Wednesday he was forwarding a copy of the letter to the chairman of the Committee on Judicial Advisory Polls, who is based in Benton. Anderson said this morning that "a letter is being prepared in response to the people who sent the letter. The Committee (on Judicial Advisory Polls) itself, from what I understand, has no plans to hold a special meeting. We'll put it on the agenda of their next regular meeting. I certainly imagine they will take it up at that time."
Anderson said he thinks the next committee meeting is June 15.
"I don't see anything in this that violates our policy ... because we look for opinions far and wide, the more the better," Anderson said.
Watts said Wednesday a second letter is being sent to Robert K. Downs, president of the ISBA Board of Directors. The letter again asks the ISBA to take part in a joint investigation and turn over documents asked for in the first letter. The letter asked Downs to respond "on or before May 16."
Both Rehn and Shipplett expressed frustration at not being shown a copy of the letter before it was sent. Rehn has since seen a copy, although as of mid-morning Wednesday, Shipplett had not. Rehn said he has made a number of calls to the ISBA with questions of his own.
Rehn said there were races in other counties in the circuit and some of the 45 ballots requested might have been cast in those races. He also said there were uncontested races in many of the circuits in which few, if any, ballots were requested.
Shipplett said there is nothing illegal about asking for a ballot but said he understands why someone suspicious of the results would want the names of those who asked for a ballot.
"Suppose there were six requests from people in Rockford and those people happened to be my law school friends. That might not be so good," Shipplett said, especially if all the ballots said one candidate was great and the others were horrible. "Since this has hit, I have counted my blessings that I didn't even cast a ballot," Shipplett said, adding with a laugh, "I don't have friends, either."
Rehn said he favors an investigation if there is a strong case of possible wrongdoing.
Shipplett said he takes this seriously.
"In a non-issue race, any implication on a persons's character is very serious," Shipplett said.
