The LaSalle County Republican Party is recommending that people vote no on retaining circuit judges Gene Daugherity and Joe Hettel and appellate judge Mary McDade. The letter mailed this month doesn’t say why. We asked Party Chairman Larry Smith what the party has against them. He says they’re not Republicans and the party would like more Republican office holders.
Smith didn’t know of any particular cases those judges handled that he thought could have gone differently with a Republican perspective. Circuit Judge Gene Daugherity says you won’t find any that have come out of his courtroom.
Daugherity says he almost never knows the political leanings of the people involved in his cases and he has no reason to ask. Judge Joe Hettel says the same. Even though Illinois judges run for election as Democrats or Republicans, Hettel says it’s not a partisan job.
Smith says challenging judges at retention time is new territory for the LaSalle County Republican Party. In interviews with WCMY, judges Hettel and Daugherity talked about it being a troubling turn if judges are expected to have partisan considerations.
Litigants who think a judge is biased for any reason have options. A litigant can ask for a substitution of judge and will get it–at least once–without explaining why. When a litigant thinks a judge hasn’t been fair, he or she can ask the judge to reconsider a ruling. Or the litigant can petition to have another judge review things.
There are also post-trial motions to revisit some of the issues that came up during the case. Depending on how all these things go, a decision can be appealed to a higher court for review. And judges can be removed from office. One way is the retention vote every six years for circuit court judges.
We also reached out to Third District Appellate Court Judge Mary McDade for this story. We have not heard from her.