Justice Anne Burke Committee to Return Excess Campaign Funds to Contributors

(Chicago)… Illinois Supreme Court Justice Anne M. Burke’s campaign chairman John B. Simon announced today that her committee will return contributions received from approximately 1,200 contributors.

“We anticipated a competitive election, and raised funds accordingly,” said Simon, noting that the last race for the state Supreme Court in 2006 cost upwards of $5 million. “The widespread support of the community for Justice Burke’s candidacy is very much appreciated and we are grateful to our contributors.  With no one else choosing to file, however, there is no need for a war chest of this size.”

Burke is unopposed for election to a ten-year term in the February 5th Democratic primary.  She has served as a Justice of the Illinois Supreme Court since July 6, 2006, after being selected by its members to succeed retiring Justice Mary Ann McMorrow. 

Simon said that the committee will report $1,477,194 on hand, after expenditures of $251,816.  The committee stopped soliciting contributions when the candidate filing-period closed with no one but Justice Burke filing for the office.

In addition to campaign overhead, Simon said the Burke committee would spend some of its funds to support the Democratic slate of countywide judicial candidates of which Justice Burke is a member.  Of the remaining funds, two-thirds will be returned to contributors within the next several weeks and the remainder after the general election in November.

“There still is a general election, and we don’t want to take anything for granted,” Simon said, explaining why the committee would retain a portion of its current balance.  “Once that election is behind us, our intent is to go out of business.”

As a young physical education teacher with the Chicago Park District, Anne Burke founded the Chicago Special Olympics.  Later, as the mother of four school-aged children, she attended Chicago-Kent College of Law.  After graduating, she began a neighborhood law practice that included representing the interests of children and families in cases involving neglect, abuse, delinquency and parental custody.

Prior to her appointment to the Supreme Court, Burke served for seven years as a judge on the Illinois Court of Claims and eleven years as a Justice of the First District Appellate Court.

In addition to her law degree from Chicago-Kent, Burke received a B.A. in Education from DePaul University in 1976 and has been awarded a number of honorary degrees.  She has served as president of Special Children’s Charities and the Caritas Foundation, and as a trustee of DePaul University, Loyola University, the Chicago Public Library Foundation, St. Xavier University, Persons with Disabilities Fund, Chicago Community Trust, River North Dance Company, Lincoln Park Zoological Society and St. Rose School for the Mentally Disabled.

Justice Burke is seeking to be elected from the Supreme Court’s First District, which is comprised of Cook County.  She is the third woman to serve on the state’s highest court.  A Democrat, she will run in the primary election on February 5, 2008.