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COOK COUNTY RECORD

Tuesday, November 12, 2024

Two scandal-marked Cook County judges to be investigated by state

Discipline
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Cook County Circuit Judge E. Kenneth Wright | Linkedin

Cook County's chief judges have asked a state agency tasked with reviewing complaints of misconduct against judges to look into whether two of their colleagues on the Cook County bench, including a prominent judge, have lived improperly outside Cook County.

On Nov. 6, the Cook County Circuit Court's Executive Committee entered orders formally requesting the Illinois Judicial Inquiry Board investigate allegations against Cook County Circuit Judges E. Kenneth Wright and Shannon O'Malley.

The orders do not spell out any specific allegations against either judge. Rather, the orders merely state that each judge "has been publicly implicated in conduct which, if true, violates" a court rule of conduct known as Illinois Supreme Court Canon 1, Rule 1.2.


Cook County Circuit Judge Shannon O'Malley | Injustice Watch

Rule 1.2 states: "A judge shall act at all times in a manner that promotes public confidence in the independence, integrity, and impartiality of the judiciary and shall avoid impropriety and the appearance of impropriety."

In recent weeks, however, reporting from court and legal news publication Injustice Watch indicated reporters uncovered evidence that both Wright and O'Malley own homes in Will County, which they may treat as their primary residences.

If true, such residency problems could violate the Illinois state constitution, which requires judges to live within the county in which they are elected - in this case, Cook County.

However, the Injustice Watch reporting indicated that Wright has claimed a senior homestead property tax exemption for a home in southwest suburban Joliet. 

Injustice Watch noted Wright also claims two other residences in Chicago.

To claim a homestead exemption, however, a taxpayer must assert that the property is their primary residence.

Injustice Watch said they uncovered evidence O'Malley may actually live in west suburban Aurora, also in Will County.

In their report, Injustice Watch said their reporters telephoned a number associated with the Aurora home, at which time O'Malley's wife answered the phone and told him, "It's the reporter."

O'Malley allegedly was then overheard telling his wife, "Don't tell her I live here," and reportedly refused to speak to Injustice Watch at that time.

The allegations against the two judges proved to be serious concerns for Cook County's legal community, among other observers.

Both Wright and O'Malley were candidates for retention on the ballot on Election Day this year.

As part of the election process, various associations of lawyers, including the Illinois State Bar Association and the Chicago Council of Lawyers, evaluate candidates for judge, with the goal of helping the public choose qualified judges.

As part of the evaluation process, these organizations rate the various candidates.

Initially, all organizations gave positive recommendations to Wright.

Wright has practiced law in Illinois for 47 years and has served as a Cook County judge since 1994. Since 2003, he has served as presiding judge over the county's First Municipal District courts. That district oversees small civil claims, evictions, housing matters, felony preliminary hearings and cases related to misdemeanors in the city of Chicago.

Wright has long been regarded well by his colleagues.

However, following the Injustice Watch reporting, some of the reviewing organizations, including the State Bar Association, withdrew postive recommendations on his candidacy.

For its part, the Chicago Council of Lawyers said they believed Wright had proved to them he had "corrected his tax exemption status" to continue serving on the court.

O'Malley, however, received an even tougher reception from the legal organizations and the public.

O'Malley has generated controversy from the beginning of his career as a Cook County iudge. When he was first elected in 2018, news reports noted O'Malley had legally changed his name from Phillip Spiwak in 2012 in an apparent nakedly transparent bid to win election by playing on Cook County Democratic voters' historic preference for judges with Irish-sounding names.

Injustice Watch noted in their report that O'Malley's wife called him "Phil" when she spoke to him at the time reporters called to discuss his alleged residency issues.

The candidate ratings groups did not discuss the residency accusations, but still gave him negative reviews based on concerns about his general abilities as a judge.

Misconduct allegations against judges are first investigated by the Judicial Inquiry Board. The JIB can then close the investigation, or recommend further action by the Illinois Courts Commission.

It is not yet known if either Wright or O'Malley will ultimately secure another term on the bench after their current term expires in December.

According to unofficial and incomplete returns, Wright appeared poised to win reelection.

O'Malley, however, remained just below the vote threshold he needed to secure another term.

Wright and O'Malley were among 78 judges Cook County voters were asked to retain on the bench to continue serving on the Cook County Circuit Court. Under such a retention election, voters are asked only to vote "Yes" or "No" for each judge.

For a judge to secure retention, they must obtain "Yes" votes from at least 6-% of voters. Judges retained would secure a new 6-year term on the bench.

According to unofficial returns from the Cook County Clerk's office and the Chicago Board of Elections, Wright had secured "Yes" votes from about 62.9% of voters, as of Nov. 8.

O'Malley, however, continued to hover right at the threshold, at 60.02%, as of Friday evening, Nov. 8.

According to local election officials, potentially tens of thousands of votes remain to be counted overall. It is not known how many ballots may include votes for judicial retention.

The Chicago Board of Elections, for instance, notes it could yet count more than 91,000 ballots. Those ballots will continue to be counted through Nov. 19.

As of Nov. 8, that total included 5,759 uncounted provisional ballots; 31,431 vote by mail ballots which had been returned by voters, but not yet counted; and 54,150 vote by mail ballots which had been sent by election authorities to voters, but had not yet been returned back to the Board of Elections.

Under Illinois law, election authorities must count all vote by mail ballots received up to two weeks after Election Day, so long as they believe the ballots had been placed in the mail by Election Day.

Illinois law does not require the ballots include a postmark as proof they had been mailed on time, only a statement from the voter claiming they had.

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