DuPage, Illinois County Judge Faces Backlash From Liking A Facebook Post
How petty are we getting with social media now?
You may not give a second thought to liking somebody's Facebook post but one county judge is facing a formal complaint because of it.
DuPage County Chief Judge Bonnie Wheaton is accused of liking a Facebook post that area watchdog, Edgar Pal, claims she shouldn't have liked. In the past, Pal has complained about 2 other people to the Judicial Inquiry Board, based on stuff he's seen on Facebook.
The Post
There had been an ongoing appeals court battle involving Clerk Jean Kaczmarek. After a victory for the court, Kaczmarek requested Chief Judge Bonnie Wheaton to appoint her an attorney to appeal the ruling.
In the post, Deb Conroy, the DuPage County Board's chair, had posted to Facebook "Drama over. County Board won the court case against the Clerk in a 3 to 0 ruling." Wheaton liked the post.
The Complaint
Watchdog Pal saw that she liked it, he didn't like that she liked it, so he filed a complaint with the Judicial Inquiry Board.
He says it violates judicial code by making a "public statement about a matter pending or impending in any court". He also claims that she violated the restriction on a judge endorsing a candidate and that by liking Conroy's post, then Chief Judge Wheaton is endorsing Conroy's reelection campaign.
He's complained about other things he's seen specifically on Facebook too.
Last year, he claimed 2 DuPage County circuit judges (who were running as Democrats) were breaking the state's judicial codes with their actions.
He accused both Christina Kye and Margaret O'Connell of breaking the part of the code that says judges "must not circulate petitions for any nonjudicial candidates for public office". He says the judges "canvassed" for petition signatures, along with Democratic non-judge candidates.
Those events have been promoted on, you guessed it: Facebook.
Pal said about O'Connell: "Her Facebook posts give the impression that she is endorsing other candidates".
Neither judge, nor Chief Judge Wheaton as of now, has been found to be in violation of the judicial code.
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