May 31, 2017
THE MAKING AND UNMAKING OF JUDGE COOKE

ANALYSIS & OPINION BY RUSS STEWART

by RUSS STEWART

It is often said that there are two great tragedies in life. The first is to have one's dreams unfulfilled, and die disappointed. The second is to have one's dreams fulfilled, and die disappointed.

As Richard Cooke, until recently a Cook County Circuit Court judge, discovered, the latter is infinitely worse than the former. Cooke resigned after 142 days on the bench.

Cooke, a veteran attorney with an extensive civil practice, plus investments in three Northwest Side car washes and two gas stations, has been a longtime Democratic cash cow. That means when his political mentors - former Alderman Dick Mell (33rd), aldermen Roberto Maldonado (26th) and Walter Burnett (27th), and state representative Luis Arroyo (D-3) - asked for campaign donations, he gave quickly, to them or to other "needy" Democrats.

According to sources, Cooke donated almost $350,000 from 2001 to 2015, putting him atop the Democrats' "A-List" of future judicial rewardees. In 2015, Cooke, then age 48, decided he wanted his reward. The wealthy Cooke lived in swanky River Forest, where he had run for office which was located in the heavily black 7th subcircuit, so that was out. There is a lengthy waiting list for countywide judicial slating, stretching into the 2020s, and white males have fared poorly in recent Democratic primaries; an Irish-surnamed female would be a cinch to beat Cooke.

Cooke's benefactors invited him to move back to the Hispanic-majority 6th subcircuit, where he has his businesses, law office and apartments.

The concept of a "subcircuit" was hatched during the 1991 state legislative session, the brainchild of a unique coalition of Republicans, minorities and liberals. Until then, the county's Circuit Court was almost entirely male, mostly Irish-American, and virtually all Democrats who got on the bench because of their committeeman's clout.

There was a sprinkling of ethnic Poles, Italians and Jews, a few blacks, no Hispanics, and maybe about 20 women out of 375 judges. About 160 of that number were "associate" judges, all Democrats, appointed by the other 225 elected judges to a 4-year term. The latter were elected either countywide, or Chicago-only, or suburbs-only. That meant a few suburban Republicans got on the bench, but Democratic slate makers decreed everybody else.

The new law divided the county into 15 subcircuits of equal population, and mandated that, over time, beginning in 1992, each would grow to 8 to 10 judges, amounting to almost two-thirds of all elected judges. As of 2016, 157 judges have been elected from subcircuits, and 85 have been elected countywide. Each judge stands for retention on the countywide ballot every 6 years, including the subcircuit judges, and must get 60 percent to stay on the bench. Rare is the judge who is not retained.

The legislature draws the subcircuit lines, and in 1991 it created four black-majority subcircuits, one with a Hispanic-majority, and six either partially or wholly in the suburbs, where Republicans expected to win. That has not been the case. A sizeable number of non-minorities have been elected in "minority" subcircuits, and except the far northwestern 13th subcircuit, and occasionally in the 12th, Democrats win every vacancy.

When a subcircuit judge retires, usually after they have hit their 12th year and their pension vests, a new election is scheduled for that subcircuit, and that "election" in 13 of the 15 subcircuits is the Democratic primary. Periodically, the chief judge assigns a new judgeship to the subcircuit. Almost every subcircuit now has 11 to 12 judges, which means there are a lot more minority judges.

The 6th subcircuit is the Hispanic district, mostly Puerto Rican, and as of 2016 nine of ten judges were Hispanic. It encompasses all or parts of 12 near Northwest Side Chicago wards, containing 245 precincts, with about 51,000 registered voters. The Southwest Side Mexican-Americans are dispersed in subcircuits that elect white Democratic judges.

The major players in the 6th subcircuit are Mell, who lost as the 33rd Ward committeeman in 2016, with 26 precincts, and Maldonado, with 48 precincts in his 26th Ward. Arroyo, in the new 36th Ward, has ten precincts. They invited Cooke to move into and run in their subcircuit in 2016, which he did. He was slated, and unsurprisingly found himself unopposed, most likely because he plunked $500,000 into his judicial campaign account. Before campaign's end, he had "loaned" himself $660,000 - about $450,000 of which was ultimately "repaid."

Money is intimidation, and beginning any campaign a half million dollars in the hole is a persuasive dissuader to any opponent. The Mell-Maldonado-Arroyo combine slated the white guy from River Forest, with no fuss, for the Leida Gonzalez Santiago vacancy. Luckily for Cooke, there were two other 6th subcircuit vacancies: For the Edmund Ponce de Leon vacancy, Evie DeLaRosa was slated, and ran unopposed. For the "Additional Judgeship A," bringing the subcircuit to 11 judges, Carlos Claudio, who lost in 2014, was slated. Cooke was lost in the shuffle.

In the "A" race, appointed judge Anna Loftus also filed, and had the support of 1st Alderman "Proco" Joe Moreno. There are significant and growing pockets of white voters in the subcircuit, especially in Logan Square, which is in the 35th Ward, Wicker Park in the 32nd Ward, and Moreno's lst Ward, which runs along Milwaukee Ave. between Grand and North, and west to Damen. Loftus won 25,964-20,745, with 10,495 to Ed Underhill, carrying the 1st Ward 5,543-3,158 over Claudio, the 32nd Ward 4,594-1,867, and Mell's 33rd Ward 3,999-3,089. Claudio won Joe Berrios's 31st Ward 2,912-1,530, Maldonado's 26th Ward 3,675-3,361, Burnett's 27th Ward 755-304, and Arroyo's 36th Ward 1,431-406. Had a Hispanic woman run against Cooke, he would have had to spend a bundle; as it was, he gave $67,000 to his local mentors.

On Dec. 6, Cooke was sworn into his so-called "dream job," which pays $194,001 annually, plus health insurance, 5 weeks' vacation, unlimited "sick" days, and a prodigious pension, amounting to 80 percent of the last salary. At the week-long orientation, said Cooke, he was told that his job had "incredible perks" and "minimal supervision."

Very quickly, Cooke concluded that the county judiciary was a "sick culture," he said, with a frat house mentality. Newly elected judges are dispatched to the least-desirable courtrooms, which means traffic court, either in the basement or 4th floor of the Daley Center, suburban courthouses, or housing court on the 11th floor of the Daley Center. It's like a rite of initiation. All the newbie judges get a year or 2 of misery, listening to defendants.

Then they get promoted to civil municipal, or maybe criminal court. And after a few years, they're on to the misery of the divorce division, but, if they are well-connected, it's on to probate, chancery or law. Former 38th Ward Alderman Tom Allen went from traffic to probate in a matter of months.

Cooke, however, could not function in traffic court, reading the scrawled traffic tickets, because he has dyslexia. "I was challenged to read out loud, to read tickets and make instantaneous decisions," he said. In effect, Cooke said, traffic court was nothing more than a glorified collection agency.

He also had a problem with the lengthy requisite written admonitions following a plea - i.e., you have a right to a jury trial, right to a lawyer, right to appeal, etc., etc. "I asked (chief judge Tim Evans) to transfer me to the 11th floor, to civil Municipal." Said Cooke: "I am an experienced trial attorney. I could be useful (there)." He also noted that his ownership in gas stations could be a conflict-of-interest if sitting in traffic court. Cooke was defiant in his demand for transfer causing a response from Evans.

First, he was transferred to what Cooke calls the "judge jail": Marriage Court, where he performed the mundane ceremonies while making about $800-a-day. "Arroyo tried to intervene," said one outside source. "That really enraged Evans."

And second, Evans' executive committee, which consists of the 15 presiding judges of the various divisions under his control, which includes Law, Divorce, Probate, Chancery, Municipal, Traffic and the five suburban courts, were instructed to file a complaint with the Illinois Judicial Inquiry Board (JIB). Cooke disclosed his dyslexia on various bar association questionnaires, and his ethics statement disclosed that he and family have ownership interests in his businesses. The Supreme Court rule requires divestiture of any investments in entities doing business with the county, unless there is undue hardship.

"He (Evans) wanted me to give it up," said Cooke. "I'm not going to take away income from my children and family. I will not force them to divest" their income.

Facing a lengthy (at least 2 years) and expensive JIB onslaught, Cooke resigned, just 142 days into his 6-year term. Cooke's plight is symptomatic of the county judiciary. Politics is how you get on, stay on, and rise on the bench.

For Cooke, finally, he's no longer the gift that keeps on giving.

E-mail russ@russstewart.com or visit his website at www.russstewart.com.