A federal grand jury investigation of political corruption has widened to include a probe of Cook County Circuit Court`s controversial judicial-appointment process, according to judges questioned by FBI agents in recent weeks.
The court`s chief judge and four of the jurists responsible for screening applicants for associate judgeships said Thursday that federal investigators have come to their chambers to interview them about how judges are chosen to serve on the nation`s largest court system.
Two of the judges said the agents focused on the 1989 appointment of a Traffic Court judge who was sponsored by one of the county`s highest-ranking judges.
Chief Circuit Court Judge Harry Comerford said FBI agents came to his office about three weeks ago to question him on the procedure for filling the associate posts. He said the agents ”wanted to discuss the procedure” but did not inquire about any specific judges.
As part of sweeping indictments against five political figures Wednesday, U.S. Atty. Fred Foreman charged that one associate judge was appointed after a relative paid a bribe to Pat Marcy Sr., 1st Ward Regular Democratic Organization secretary, on June 27, 1989. The judge was not named in the indictments.
Judge Monica Reynolds, chairwoman of the Circuit Court committee that screens applicants for associate judgeships, said Thursday that two agents who came to her courtroom last month inquired how North Side attorney Bernard Spak, 63, came to be placed on the bench in July 1989.
Reynolds said there was nothing memorable about Spak`s interview with the eight-member selection committee, but with the backing of the committee`s former chairman, Pasquale Sorrentino, Spak won the support of the court system`s 165 full judges, who vote on associates when vacancies arise. Sorrentino, once presiding judge of the powerful Law Division, was ousted from the bench by voters last month.
Spak, 63, had applied for a judgeship once before with Sorrentino`s sponsorship but failed to gain the approval of the Circuit Court judges.
Chancery Division Judge Robert Sklodowski, a member of the selection committee, said he also was questioned about Spak`s selection during a meeting with federal agents at his Daley Center chambers last month. Sklodowski said he told the agents that Sorrentino and late Chancery Division Judge Harold Siegan had urged committee members to support Spak for a judicial appointment. The committee agreed to endorse Spak`s candidacy, and his name was submitted with those of other candidates to the Circuit Court judges, who voted to approve him. Spak, who was on the bench hearing traffic cases Thursday, declined to talk to a reporter. Sorrentino was unavailable for comment.
Sklodowski said he was troubled by Wednesday`s indictment, which comes seven years after the first public revelations of Operation Greylord-the nation`s largest investigation of judicial corruption.
”I am sick over it all,” Sklodowski said Thursday. ”I thought it ended with Greylord, but apparently it hasn`t.”
Judges Sophia Hall and Everette Braden, members of the selection committee, also acknowledged Thursday that they were interviewed by FBI agents in recent weeks about the appointment process.
The judges declined to discuss whether they had talked about specific judges with the agents.
”I would hope that we could get this whole matter behind us and move onto something more productive,” Braden said.
When asked at a Wednesday press conference whether payoffs to help influence judicial selections was widespread, Foreman said, ”We`ll have to wait and see.”
However, federal sources said agents are pursuing a probe of the selection process as part of a broad investigation into an alleged network of corruption stretching from City Hall to the county courts to the state capital.
The judicial-selection process is described by some applicants and judges as highly political and subject to pressure from voting blocs headed by judges aligned with ward organizations, ethnic groups or political parties.
One judge said Thursday that a lawyer has virtually no chance of being choosen for the bench unless he or she has some political backing.
”He could be the most deserving guy in the world and there`s not a snowball`s chance in hell that he`ll become a judge” without political sponsorship, said the judge.
The system will undergo change next year if Gov. James Thompson or Gov.-elect Jim Edgar signs a bill that would phase out some associate judgeships and replace them with ”resident judges” elected by voters on a district basis. Full Circuit Court judges, who make about $5,000 more than associate judges and are given more prestigious courtroom assignments, already are elected by the voters.
Three of the men charged in Wednesday`s indictments appeared in court Thursday for arraignment. State Sen. John D`Arco Jr. (D-Chicago) pleaded innocent to accepting a bribe to sponsor insurance legislation in Springfield. D`Arco agreed to post his Near South Side home as bond and to pay $250,000 if he violates the bond`s terms.
Outside court, D`Arco and his attorney, Jeffrey Steinback, declined to comment on the charges.
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Ald. Fred Roti (1st) and Marcy pleaded innocent to several charges of accepting bribes to fix everything from murder cases to zoning variances.
Marcy posted his Hinsdale home as bond and agreed to pay $500,000 if he violates his bond. He also agreed not to withdraw any money from a $200,000 profit-sharing plan he has with Anco Insurance Co., a firm in which he and Roti are officers.
Edward Genson, an attorney for Marcy, attacked the credibility of Robert Cooley, a Chicago lawyer turned government informant who had been a longtime associate of 1st Ward political figures.
”These allegations are specious,” Genson said. ”They are the ravings of a sick mind, and Mr. Cooley will be shown as such in court.”
Cooley is in the federal witness protection program.
Roti deflected questions outside court to attorney Steve Molo, who said he expects the charges will be disproven in court. Roti agreed to post his South Side home and another residence as bond.
He also agreed to pay $250,000 if he violates the terms of the bond.
Also on Thursday, the Chicago Council of Lawyers urged Comerford to reassign Judge Anthony Scotillo to nonjudicial duties.
The council noted that Wednesday`s indictments charged that Roti and Marcy accepted bribes from Cooley ”to tender to the judge” who was hearing a phony case created by the FBI. According to court records, Scotillo was that judge.
Comerford said he intended to follow the policy he adopted during Operation Greylord of assigning judges to nonjudicial duties only if indicted. However, the chief judge said he had not read Wednesday`s indictments, and he could alter that policy.