Judges to Find Big Houses Somewhere in the Area

By Alicia Dorr in News on Apr 24, 2007 5:44PM

While we realize that politicans don't generally shit where they eat, we always thought that there are certain civil servants that really should live in the places they are representing. It turns out the state Senate unanimously agrees, for judges in Cook County at least. It just passed a bill requiring subcircuit judges to continue actually living in their respective Cook County areas after they are elected — you know, instead of moving to some ritzy lakefront house.

On top of that, they have to answer to the voters every six years if they want to keep their gavel and powdered wig (we know, we know, they don't have them, we just wish they did). One of the main reasons subcircuits were established in the first place was to ensure diversity on the bench and it worked ... until all the judges started moving to horrifyingly large houses on the lake in Wilmette. Seriously, have you ever been to Wilmette? Where we're from, houses that big hold many families.

Anyway, they were taking advantage of a loophole that allowed them to move anywhere in the county if 60 percent of the constituents said yes to six more years of them. The bill that just passed in the Senate seeks to re-establish "geographic diversity," and now it moves on to the House.

We don't really care if people want to live in Wilmette, but judging by the fact that there are TVs on the CTA buses up there, we don't think that people who live there are exactly "in touch" with the other economic strata in Cook County. We think that the judges can live happy and free — and in a very nice house to boot — right where the voters elected them.

Image via library.thinkquest.org.