Billionaire Griffin Goes Big on Supreme Court...Again
Chicago billionaire hedge fund manager Ken Griffin has donated $4.5 million to influence Illinois Supreme Court contests.
Illinois’ richest person, billionaire hedge fund manager Ken Griffin, has dropped another $2.5 million dollars into the battle to remove Supreme Court Justice Tom Kilbride from the bench and has aim on a southern Illinois Supreme Court contest.
Griffin already donated $2 million to the Citizens for Judicial Fairness committee chaired by former State Representative and longtime University of Illinois professor Jim Nowlan. Kilbride represents a 21-county swath of the state reaching from Rock Island County in the west to Kankakee and Iroquois counties on the Indiana border. He is seeking retention to the court for another 10-year term. He must receive 60% of the vote to keep his seat, and it has become a proxy fight for business interests with unions and trial lawyers.
Citizens for Judicial Fairness has expanded its reach in the last couple of weeks, beginning direct mail and television ads against Democratic Supreme Court candidate Judy Cates. Cates is locked in a battle with Republican David Overstreet for the Supreme Court district covering southern Illinois.
A spokesman for Citizens for Judicial Fairness declined comment Thursday night, but sources with knowledge of the committee’s intentions tell The Illinoize that Kilbride’s decision killing the independent legislative map constitutional amendment showed Kilbride votes in favor of Democratic interests, including those supported by House Speaker Michael Madigan.
The Madigan-controlled Democratic Party of Illinois contributed $550,000 to Kilbride’s campaign this week.
A spokesman for Kilbride was not available for comment Thursday night.