Sixth Circuit Primary Race

[Correction: the original post stated the dispute was "between two Democratic primary candidates," but it would be far more accurate to say that it was a dispute that relates to two Democratic primary candidates. The post has been updated to make it clear that the dispute was itself between a candidate and supporters of the public defenders office, not another candidate or campaign.]

Candidates are still collecting ballot petition signatures in time for the filing deadlines, but at least one disagreement has flared up publicly with a Democratic candidate for the Champaign County seat being vacated by Judge Bohm to run for circuit wide seat currently held by Tom Difanis who is retiring. If you didn't follow that, there will be two judicial seats open soon: one that covers the whole Sixth Circuit and one that covers just Champaign County. This flare up is happening in the race for the seat covering just Champaign County. The recent disagreement is below, but first I wanted to do a quick overview of the Democratic primary judicial race in question. Here's a link to our Judges page with links to information on the Sixth Circuit and candidate information (coming soon!). The News-Gazette summarized this particular Democratic primary race earlier this year:

[Judge Tom Difanis'] retirement, just one month prior to the end of his current term, is timed so that his seat can be filled by election instead of appointment, and so he can maximize his retirement benefits...

Bohm has decided, after consulting with his wife and receiving encouragement from friends all over the circuit, to instead to run for Difanis' seat. That means he will have to run in Champaign, DeWitt, Douglas, Macon, Moultrie and Piatt counties.

It was the Republican votes in the other counties of the circuit outside Champaign that allowed Bohm's GOP bench brethren, Randy Rosenbaum and Roger Webber, to hang on to the judgeships to which they had each been appointed in 2016...

As a result, two other lawyers have said they plan to run in the Democratic primary for Bohm's seat, a resident judgeship, which means they have to run in only Champaign County.

More details and information at the full article here. Since that article two more Democrats have jumped into the primary race for Bohm's current Champaign Count seat on the bench. From the News-Gazette last month:

A fourth Democrat has announced he wants to be his party’s candidate for resident judge for Champaign County.

David Moore, 60, of St. Joseph informed the Democratic Central Committee on Wednesday night that he intends to run for the seat now held by Judge Jason Bohm, who was appointed to it when Judge Michael Jones retired...

Moore joins already announced Democratic candidates Ramona Sullivan, an assistant public defender; Ruth Wyman, a private general practitioner in Champaign; and Troy Lozar, an assistant state’s attorney.

After the fall 2018 sweep of several countywide seats by Democrats, the four feel the chances at winning a judgeship might improve if they have to run in just Champaign County, rather than circuitwide since voters in the other five counties tend to lean Republican.

Full article here. The News-Gazette had additional coverage of Troy Lozar joining the race here. The News-Gazette had some cursory information on Sullivan and Wyman in their article on Difanis' retirement here:

Sullivan, an attorney for about 23 years, with most of that time spent as a legal-aid attorney for the indigent, ran against Roger Webber in 2018 for the vacancy created when Arnold Blockman retired in 2016...

Wyman, an attorney for almost 15 years, has a general practice of law and formerly served on the Urbana City Council for eight years.

That article is here. The Judicial races page hasn't been updated for the 2020 primary yet (nor any other 2020 race on this page yet), but the plan is to link to forums, questionnaires, coverage, and candidate guides as with the 2018 primary and 2018 general election. I hope to have more information on the GOP primary race for the circuit-wide seat soon, but the News-Gazette did have some coverage of that with Cherie Kesler joining the GOP race against Bohm here.

So what about that flare up? Well, Wyman had a facebook post attempting to highlight her pro bono legal work, which many possible Sullivan supporters and defenders of the public defenders office viewed as a clear slight against them. Below is a screen grab of the facebook post and a Letter to the Editor in today's News-Gazette:

A couple of the comments against Wyman's phrasing mention this is just the most recent offense to the public defenders and their office. There seems to be a divide between Wyman's defenders and critics on whether she deserves the benefit of the doubt on intent. Wyman attempted to explain in the comments:

"...I never said public defenders could. I’m sorry if my sentence structure was confusing. That was not the intent. The intent of my message was to include and inform that we now have a University of Illinois Immigration Law Clinic that will help with some of the pro bono work that is out there that isn’t covered by the ‘free’ services offered by government or government services. I am excited to help expand that service and help teach future lawyers how to help out in these very important cases."

This didn't seem to alleviate any concerns and may have been seen as doubling down instead. From one recommended comment:

"...Ruth didn't have to specifically include public defenders in the group of people who 'refer clients to [her] because they don't have the time or desire to represent them for free.' Even if she's talking about criminal work, the public defender's office does not refer people out. They take every case they are assigned. In certain cases, the office is conflicted from representing a client. But that in no way reflects a lack of desire or time to help them."

More at the facebook post here.