County Circuit Clerk

I had an interest in a court case in Will County and thought I'd look at their website to see whether I could access anything there.  Here's what I got.  $240 for access to their website but I can get a special deal for $300 to access a host of other counties, including Champaign.  WAHOO!

I understand that there are more than a few problems with JANO, some of which were discussed here.  But we ought to appreciate the fact that Linda Frank didn't buckle under the pressure to join this cabal of counties who charge outrageous fees for the most basic public information.

Today would probably be a good day to not be in the Courthouse.   The County's new courts technology  program is launching and it will be remarkable if it goes smoothly. 

In 1998, when the 1/4 cent sales tax for public safety passed, $250,000 per year was allocated to improve the technology in the criminal justice system.  After reviewing a number of options, the County went with New World Systems with a so called "box" solution that would need to tailored to the needs of Champaign County.  Getting this product out of the box and installed and running in Champaign County has taken about 7 or 8 years. 

The system should incorporate the Sheriff's office, Circuit Clerk, Probation, State's Attorney, Public Defender, and Circuit Judges into one system. This will eliminate needing to reenter court records at each stage in the process.  In addition, the system envisions scanning court documents in order to eliminate transferring files to Courtrooms. 

But whenever you involve this many offices in such a large project there are likely to be problems.  While each of the offices works together, each also has it's own way of doing things.  Because so many of these people are elected officials in their own right, they also don't necessarily have to go along with the program.  For example, if a judge still wants the entire paper court record brought to his courtroom, that's what's going to happen. 

I have little doubt that in the end, hopefully within weeks, the system will be running smoothly.  But the transition could give some  heartburn to more than a few people.  From a public perception, Circuit Clerk Linda Frank stands front and center on this project.  It is her staff that is going to have to inform legal secretaries that  their filing which would have sufficed last week may be lacking this week.  Or that someone with a traffic ticket has had their case postponed because the data didn't make it into the new system.  I give a lot of credit to Linda for pushing forward on this in an election year.  It would have been easy to put off this launch for six months to place it outside the political debate.

One positive for the public is that Linda fought for continued free access to the docket sheets as she has been providing for years.  Some enterprising officials apparently would have liked to go to a pay system.  That free system also is in transition, so don't be surprised if your access this week is sporadic.

No doubt some readers will be at the Courthouse this week.  I'd like to hear comments.

A roundup of contested races locally, after yesterday's filing deadline. 

Ballot vacancies can still be filled by established Parties (Democrats, Greens & Republicans) after the Primary.

Petition challenges may still remove some of these candidates from the ballot.

I'll try to link to a district map when available.

If you know if any of these candidates have websites, please post them in comments - I'd like to clean this up and make it the candidate blogroll.

I've tried to list people in the order in which they filed, and therefore the order in which they'll appear on the Primary ballot.

Asterisks indicate incumbents.

Congress - 15th District

• Tim Johnson (R-Urbana)*
• Steve Cox (D-Urbana)

State House

• 104th District

• Terry Baldwin (R-Danville)
• Scott Eisenhauer (R-Danville)

• 105th District

• Dave Tomlinson (R-Champaign)
• Shane Cultra (R-Onarga)*

Countywide

• Auditor
  • Brad Jones (R)
  • Tony Fabri (D)*
• Circuit Clerk
  • Linda Frank (R)*
  • Kim Hooper (D)
• Coroner
  • Duane Northrup (R)*
  • Mark Medlyn (D)
• Recorder
  • Barb Frasca (R)*
  • Danis Pelmore (D)
• State's Attorney
  • Julia Rietz (D)*
  • Alfred Ivy III (D)
  • Janie Miller-Jones (R)

County Board

• District 4 (one full-term seat)
  • Ken Goodchild (R)
  • Steve O'Conner (R)*
• District 6 (one full-term seat)
  • Giraldo Rosales (D)
  • Wayne Williams (D)
  • Eva Jehle (D)
  • Pattsi Petrie (D)
• District 7 (two full-term seats)
  • Janet Anderson (D)*
  • Pius Wiebel (D)*
  • Walter Pituc (G)
  • Kostas Yfantis (G)
• District 8 (one full-term seat)
  • Samuel Jay Smucker (D)
  • Joe Futrelle (G)
• District 9 (one full-term seat)
  • Brendan McGinty (D)*
  • Devan Cowsen (D)

You can find a full list of County candidates here.  A full list of State and Federal candidates is here.  (GOP Presidential Delegate candidates file in about a month.)

I know I've certainly missed something, so correct me in comments.

UPDATE:  To re-emphasize - I have not listed any uncontested races here.  The News-Gazette's filing story is here.

I thought it might be interesting to examine the five county wide offices that are up for election as petitions begin to be circulated.  I'm taking these in seniority order, which puts Linda Frank first, having been appointed to the office in 1991 and elected four times since.

Each election I hear that Linda is vulnerable and each election she ends up winning handily, often in poor Republican years.  She got 56% of the vote last year when Bush got 49%.  I tend to think that the same holds true this year, that she'll outpace the average Republican by a wide margin.

Linda's perceived vulnerabilities in previous elections were based on perceived problems in service and organization.  The new courthouse, which has consolidated her office in one location and has made it easier for the public to get what they need from her office, seems to have dampened those criticisms.  She's got a great website and has expanded payments options for people.  She seems to be one of the more innovative elected officials, so I think you can anticipate more advances as she continues on in office.

What's it going to take for someone to unseat her?  I don't particularly think it's possible.  I think by and large, her office is well regarded by the public.

What other things would you like to see from the office?  If you were a challenger, what would you be doing to win this election and what criticisms would you raise? 

I promoted this from an anonymoust comment:

There are 19 local races that I count - Judge Ford’s race, 3 countywide (clerk, sheriff, treasurer) and 15 county board seats. Of those, the Dems have 7 incumbents that are running for re-election. Outside of their incumbents, they’ve only recruited 4 new people to run. Of those, 1 is a perennial candidate with no chance of winning (Bob Morrison), 1 was recruited at the last minute for an open Dem seat (Melin - CB7), and 2 were recruited to run against Beckett & Wysocki.

That’s hilarious.

I wonder when the News-Gazette is going to write a nasty editorial about the impotence and ineffectiveness of the Champaign County Democratic Party?

The great blog Champaign Common Sense has a surprising post today:

It seems Linda Frank, our elected Circuit Clerk, is at war with the Judges.

And:

Linda is, in my humble opinion, dumb as a box of rocks. Her last opponent in the election wasn't much better. Thankfully, there is already a movement in the Republican party to field a challenger to Linda in the next primary if she runs again.

Read the whole thing.

UPDATE: Typo fixed in first quote - should have read "Judges."