Voters in Cook County and Chicago appear to have booted another judge from the bench, this time in an apparent end to the judicial career of a man who famously changed his Eastern European name to one that sounded Irish, in an apparent bid to improve his chances to win election, but then was accused of living outside Cook County while serving as a judge on the county's bench, in an alleged violation of the law.
On Nov. 20, with the deadline for counting late-arriving ballots in Illinois now passed, Cook County Judge Shannon O'Malley appeared to have fallen short of the vote threshold required to retain his seat on the Cook County Circuit Court.
According to unofficial results posted by the Cook County Clerk and the Chicago Board of Elections, only 57.9% of voters had voted to allow O'Malley to retain his judgeship, more than 2 percentage points short of the 60% approval needed to win another term as judge.
Cook County Circuit Judge Shannon O'Malley
| Injustice Watch
In the general election this fall, voters in Cook County were asked whether to retain 78 judges on the Cook County Circuit Court. Voters were asked only to vote "Yes" or "No" for each judge.
For a judge to secure retention, at least 60% of voters must vote "Yes" for that judge. Judges retained would secure a new 6-year term on the bench.
According to unofficial tallies, some other Cook County judges came close to also losing their seats. However, all but O'Malley appeared to have surpassed the 60% mark.
Judge Ieshia Gray eked out a retention win, with 60.6% of the vote.
Meanwhile, judges E. Kenneth Wright and Kathy M. Flanagan also crossed the retention threshold. Wright appeared to have secured 61.5% of the vote, while 62.5% voted to retain Flanagan.
Other judges winning retention with less then 65% of the vote included Lisa Ann Marino, with 64.2% and Maura Slattery Boyle, with 64.95%.
Under Illinois election law, election authorities must count late-arriving mail-in and provisional ballots received up to two weeks after Election Day. This year, that deadline was Nov. 19.
Wright, Flanagan and O'Malley have all been touched by scandal in recent weeks.
Flanagan, who has led the county court's Law Division, came under scrutiny earlier this year, when the Cook County Circuit Court's top judges asked a state judicial misconduct board to look into accusations against Flanagan stemming from an incident in her courtroom in which an attorney claimed a bailiff, reportedly at the judge's direction, had removed him from the courtroom and handcuffed him to a chair in a non-public hallway after the attorney questioned the judge's handling of a case.
The Illinois State Bar Association notably found Flanagan "not qualified for retention" in its evaluation of her candidacy.
Wright, who has served as the presiding judge over the county's First Municipal District since 2003, was identified in reporting by legal news publication Injustice Watch as one of two Cook County judges seeking retention who may live outside Cook County. Under the state constitution, judges are required to live in the county in which they serve.
The Injustice Watch report indicated that Wright claims a senior homestead exemption for a home in suburban Joliet in Will County. Injustice Watch noted Wright also claims two other residents in Chicago.
To claim a homestead exemption, however, a taxpayer must assert that the property is their primary residence.
The residency problems prompted organizations which evaluate judicial candidates, including the Illinois State Bar Association, to withdraw recommendations in favor of Wright's candidacy.
Some, however, said they believed Wright had furnished proof he had "corrected his tax exemption status" to reflect he properly lives in Cook County.
The Injustice Watch report also, however, notably identified Judge O'Malley as another judge who may actually not live in Cook County, as required.
Injustice Watch said their reporters found proof O'Malley actually lived in suburban Aurora, also in Will County.
In addition to residency concerns, O'Malley also faced past controversies.
O'Malley gained notoriety when he was first elected to the bench in 2018, when news reports noted O'Malley had legally changed his name from Phillip Spiwak to Shannon O'Malley 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, when reporters called the Aurora house in question to discuss the residency concerns, O'Malley's wife called him "Phil" when she spoke to him.
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.
Judicial candidate rating agencies cited such ethical concerns, along with reported problems running his courtroom and shortcomings in his legal knowledge, in recommending against O'Malley's retention.
Since Election Day, Cook County's judicial leadership have also referred Wright and O'Malley to Illinois' Judicial Inquiry Board for further investigation of the residency claims against them. The JIB can then recommend the Illinois Courts Commission take further disciplinary action against the judges, as it may determine necessary.
Should final election authorities confirm O'Malley's retention loss, it would mark the third time in the past four elections that voters have tossed a sitting a judge from the bench in Cook County.
In 2018, voters rejected the retention bid from former Judge Matthew Coghlan, who was targeted for defeat by a campaign from progressive activists angered over Coghlan's alleged connection to false conviction cases.
And in 2020, voters also refused to retain former Judge Jackie Portman Brown, who was mired in scandal over alleged bullying in her courtroom and over alleged poor leadership of an experimental court diversion program intended to keep defendants on probation out of prison.
Vote totals will become final when they are certified on Dec. 2, according to the Chicago Board of Elections.