Cunningham Making Run For States High Court

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Ill. First District Appellate Court Judge Joy Cunningham (shown) told a group of Black Press reporters at a recent media roundtable discussion, that her bid to be elected to the Supreme Court of Illinois is winnable but only with support from the Black community. The meeting was held at Josephine's Hardtimes Restaurant at 436 E. 79th St. in Chicago. Photo by John Alexander
Ill. First District Appellate Court Judge Joy Cunningham (shown) told a group of Black Press reporters at a recent media roundtable discussion, that her bid to be elected to the Supreme Court of Illinois is winnable but only with support from the Black community. The meeting was held at Josephine's Hardtimes Restaurant at 436 E. 79th St. in Chicago. Photo by John Alexander

Illinois First District Appellate Court Judge Joy Cunningham is seeking a higher calling.

In the March 20 election, she is looking to be elected to the Supreme Court of Illinois. If she succeeds, Cunningham would be only the second African American in the history of the state to be voted into the high court and the first African American woman.

Cunningham told a group of Black Press reporters at a recent media roundtable discussion that her bid is winnable, but only with support from the Black community and electorate in Cook County. The meeting was held at Josephine's Hardtimes Restaurant at 436 E. 79th St., where about a half dozen Black media outlets attended.

If we galvanize the Black community I can win this election, she told the Chicago Citizen in a one-on-one interview. I am very confident that if African Americans understood whats at stake, that I could win this race. And whats at stake is basically our future.

Chances to be on the states highest court are few and far between so Cunningham said she is working to seize the current opportunity. There are seven justices on the Illinois Supreme Court, with Justice Charles E. Freeman being the first and only African American. She is hoping voters understand the historic opportunity at hand.

This is really important. Its more important than who sits on the board of the Water Reclamation District, who is the county assessor, who is your alderman, she said. This may be our last chance to elect an African American justice to the Ill. Supreme Court. The opportunity may not come up again in our lifetime. It sounds dramatic but its true.

The vacancy on the states high court is due to former Chief Justice Thomas Fitzgeralds 2010 retirement. Mary Jane Theis was appointed to his seat, but now she has to be elected to it. Theis, Cunningham and Aurelia Pucinski are vying for the spot. As Illinois election rules go, the Supreme Court candidates only need to win in Cook County to get the seat.

Cunningham is putting part of her aspirations in the hands of a group of voters she knows traditionally dont always turn out to the polls. Further, the dizzying list of judges on election ballots often leaves judicial races to unpredictable chance when voters dont know anything about the candidates.

A lot of people simply just vote party, said Ronald Stamps, a 52-year-old South Side voter who usually casts absentee ballots. He told the Chicago Citizen he has been guilty of doing that.

Cook County Board of Election results show that some voting numbers in the last two elections were starkly different. In Thornton Township, for example, which includes the south suburban towns of Harvey, Riverdale and Dolton, voters cast 45,495 ballots in the 2008 primary; in the 2004 primary, only 30,275 votes were cast. That scenario repeated in most of Chicagos Black wards where Chicago Board of Elections data indicates that in places like the 20th Ward 21,904 votes were cast in the 2008 primary, more than double the amount in the 2004 election where only 8,137 votes were counted.

Cunningham said she needs more money in her campaign coffers to help pull off a victory. State campaign finance reports show that at the end of 2011 her campaign had over $139,000. But her incumbent competitor had five times that amount. Records indicate that Theis had over $609,000 at the end of last year.

Another $300,000 "would really put us in good standing," Cunningham told reporters.

But Cunningham said her greatest assets are her judicial diversity and her ability to relate to ordinary people.

She hails from Harlem, New York where she worked in a low-wage position at a local hospital and got a nursing degree. Then she worked nights as a nurse to pay for her law degree from Chicagos John Marshall Law School. She practiced law in the health care industry before moving to the public sector where she served as an assistant attorney general and circuit court judge.

I come from a common background with ordinary people, she said. I would submit that someone who grew up in Glenview or Northbrook has a different perspective than someone who grew up in Englewood, or in my case, Harlem.

Those are the kinds of distinctions that Ronald Stamps said should be chief deciding factors.

Judges are very import because one of our biggest problems is sentencing and how people are getting sentenced for certain crimes, he said. I think that a lot of time because of the lack of Black judges, the charging and sentencing dont level out. Its not equal. Its not fair in many cases.

He added that judicial elections should not be taken lightly or be solely based on race.

You cant have an affirmative action program for court judges, he said. I would rather have a judge whos qualified and who doesnt have blinders on in that position (instead of) one just because shes Black.

Ultimately, Stamps he said he would support Cunningham, if he feels shes qualified.

By Rhonda Gillespie

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