It should come as no surprise to Illinois voters that as it comes time to elect new judges to the Illinois Supreme Court, that Democrats would nominate two candidates with deep financial ties to former Speaker of the Illinois House Mike Madigan and Chicago machine politics.

Mary K. O’Brien has deep financial ties to the Madigan Machine, having received over $200,000 from groups controlled by indicted former Illinois House Speaker Michael J. Madigan. This total includes: $117,793.52 from the Democratic Party of Illinois when Madigan was the Chairman, $86,414.87 from Illinois House Democratic Majority, and $4,500 from Friends of Michael J. Madigan directly. In turn, O’Brien later gave $12,600 to Madigan’s Democratic Party of Illinois and $3,350 to Friends of Michael J. Madigan. Speaker Madigan was indicted on federal racketeering and bribery charges in relation with energy utility Commonwealth Edison.

O’Brien voted with Madigan 93.6% of the time during her final year in the General Assembly, years after her victory “Helped Madigan Regain The Speakership,” according to the State-Journal Register article “Wishing for some goodies for public officials in 1998” from December 28th, 1997. Further, O’Brien’s victory was a direct beneficiary of Madigan’s ethically questionable “Friends and Family” program that was alleged at the time to be “a way to boost local campaigns without publicly itemizing contributions”, according to an article from the Copley News Service from October 25th, 2000.

Elizabeth Rochford too has close ties with the Illinois Democratic Machine. Rochford contributed $1,500 to indicted Alderman Ed Burke, a month after Burke was charged with 14 counts of corruption. Federal Prosecutors called Burke “thoroughly corrupt and worthy of prosecution”. Rochford defended the contribution, calling Burke “a longtime friend of our family.”

Further, Rochford held a patronage position as a commissioner for the Illinois Court of Claims. Illinois Court of Claims positions have long been used as patronage positions for political insiders.

“We need to elect judges to our State’s highest court who will follow the rule of law, hold corrupt public officials accountable, and put the people of Illinois first. We shouldn’t reload the Supreme Court with more machine politicians loyal to Mike Madigan and his political machine like Mary K. O’Brien and Elizabeth Rochford,” said Illinois Republican Party Executive Director Shaun McCabe. “To restore trust in our state institutions, voters must oppose O’Brien and Rochford. We can’t afford to elect more judges who cut their teeth and earned their stripes in the Madigan Machine.”

Republicans have an historic opportunity to win a Republican majority on the Illinois Supreme Court for the first time, and we can actually do it. Mary K. O’Brien has been a Madigan ally for decades, and as we saw with Kilbride’s defeat, voters know that Madigan has controlled the courts for years. Rochford has deep ties to the Madigan/Burke Machine, and those ties will be key to a GOP victory. Please join the fight to defeat the Madigan Machine and take control of the Illinois Supreme Court.

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