ISBA President Irene F. Bahr, keynote speaker for the afternoon session of the League of Women Voters forum, outlined the work of the state bar association in determining qualifications of judicial candidates.

Polling the audience for those who had negative views of their experiences in court, Bahr described the available tools for making decisions about candidates for election and retention.

Among them are ISBA judicial advisory polls of opinions about candidates outside of Cook County, and judicial evaluations of Cook County Circuit Court candidates and all those running for the Appellate and Supreme Court around the entire state.

Bahr's remarks followed a discussion of judicial campaigns by Cindi Canary, director of the Illinois Campaign for Political Reform, and Edward Murnane, president of the Illinois Civil Justice League.

Both spoke in favor of reforms of high-cost campaigns that create an impression that seats on the bench can be bought, and damage public confidence in the judiciary. They disagreed on whether public financing of judicial races is the answer.

Canary thought a public financing process could appear to reduce the influence of special interests. Murnane said limits should be applied to campaign spending, but the public shouldn't have to foot the bill. “Let the lawyers do it,” he said.