Rock Island Today

Jan Weber, chair of the Henry County Republican Party, opposes the retention of Illinois Supreme Court Justice Thomas Kilbride, saying the judge does the bidding for House Speaker Mike Madigan.

“Kilbride, when he first ran for office in 2000 and when he ran for retention in 2010, received 90% of his money either directly from Mike Madigan or one of the numerous political action committees or labor union groups that Madigan is associated with,” Weber told Rock Island Today. “I don’t think Mr. Kilbride himself was a very effective fundraiser. He depends heavily on Madigan’s influence to raise the money for his campaigns. I assume it will be same this time.”

Three Illinois Supreme Court members are traditionally from the Chicago area, which is heavily controlled by Democrats, said Weber. Three districts are in the more heavily Republican southern part of the state, she said.

That leaves a district in the center part of the state as a swing area, Weber said.

“For Madigan to maintain his influence with the Illinois Supreme Court, he needs Kilbride to be his voice,” Weber said.

In 2016, Kilbride authored a court opinion to kill a “Fair Map” constitutional amendment that would have allowed a non-partisan committee rather than political parties to draw election districts, Weber said.

“There were well over 500,000 signatures on that drive,” Weber said. “I went out and got signatures for that. Many people in my area of the state did. We just wanted the voters to be able to have a choice.”

Madigan supporters, however, filed a lawsuit to oppose the initiative.

“Madigan’s campaign friend, his buddy, Mr. Kilbride, was right there to offer an opinion on it,” said Weber. “I think that is probably one of the lead factors that has riled a lot of people up and say it’s time for Kilbride to not return to the Illinois Supreme Court.”

Kilbride has been on the court for 20 years and that’s enough, Weber said.

“I’m not sure that in today’s world, anything should be a lifetime job,” she said. “It’s very difficult to have someone not get retained for a judicial position in Illinois. We talk about term limits for legislators, maybe a 20-year-term for a judge at any level should be long enough.”