Judge Thaddeus Wilson, a recent appointee to the bench, has 13 years of courtroom experience dealing with criminal and civil cases, and has a background that involves business as well as law. Wilson talked about his reason for running, the most important quality for a judge to have and his endorsements, which include one from the Cook County Democratic Party.
Windy City Times: When did you know you wanted to be a judge?
Thaddeus Wilson: It's always one of those things in the back of your head, but you kind of [ see how ] things are and move forward. I think definitely after I became a lawyer and starting a practice, I knew I wanted to be a judge—and even a little before. I worked for a [ steel company ] , became a system analyst, [ got ] an MBA and went to law schools because most of the corporate CEOs have law degrees. I figured I would [ then ] retire and teach.
Then, one day when I sitting in a barbershop—back when I had hair—and [ thought ] about a police situation I was involved in. I wasn't shot, but I could've been.
WCT: When was this?
TW: This was back in South Carolina [ where I grew up ] . I drove my father's 1968 candy apple-red Corvette [ one day ] and came to this intersection. I turned to go, and this officer looked at me; I thought nothing of it. It turned out that the officer had followed me and called for back-up. I'm over at my grandfather's, doing some work with some tools, and these officers [ yell ] 'Freeze!' I could've been [ shot ] . A young officer thought I had stolen the car. I thought, 'This will never stop.' I went to law school—even then, though, I thought I'd go into business, but it was not to be. I ended up being a civil-rights attorney handling police brutality issues.
I've always been into education and teaching. I've feel that I've [ done ] the practice; now it's time to do some good from the bench. Then, hopefully, I'll be young enough to retire and teach.
WCT: What's the most important quality for a judge to have?
TW: Impartiality. If you don't have impartiality, the other issues go out the door. It doesn't matter if you have the best knowledge of the law, if you still [ are intent ] on not being fair or impartial, then it doesn't matter.
WCT: What's your biggest edge in this race?
TW: I think I have the broadest background and experience. Mr. Doran hasn't been out campaigning. We probably have roughly the same amount of experience, but he's been in one area—municipal prosecutions. My other opponent, Debra Walker, has more years of practice, but she's pigeonholed in one area—insurance defense. I've done personal injury, real estate, bankruptcy, zoning, police brutality, employment law, appeals and election law. [ Also, ] I'm not versed in just the state court system, but the federal court system as well. ... [ Versatility ] is what made me a good attorney; I can represent clients in one issue and, because of my knowledge, I can walk them through another area.
WCT: What's your biggest disadvantage in this race?
TW: The disadvantage is that many voters vote based on name. They don't have a lot of information about judicial candidates; the lore is that [ voters ] play 'eeney-meeney-mini-moe,' and say 'this name sounds Irish' or 'this name sounds Black' or 'this person is a woman, so she might be fair, so we'll vote for her.'
WCT: I don't think you have to worry about that, with your name being 'Wilson.'
TW: But one of my opponents is Debra Walker. If you ask the average person, they will say that's a Black name.
WCT: You have a lot of powerful people endorsing you. How does that work? How, for example, does someone like [ State Senate President ] Emil Jones, Jr., come to endorse you?
TW: Well, you know them. You seem them periodically. My law partner is an alderman [ Howard Brookins ] , and his father was a state senator; in fact, he lost to Emil Jones. His former chief, who's now also a judge, was in law school with me. And I represented Roland Burrus's church when this disbarred attorney was stealing church properties and selling them; Roland kept contacting me about [ legal matters ] . And I typically see [ Jones ] in the neighborhood almost every Saturday morning.
WCT: Hypothetical: You're presiding over a case in which a relative of one of these powerful endorsers is involved. Do you recuse yourself from the case? What do you do?
TW: It depends on who it is and what the relation is. I don't have a personal relationship with many of the endorsers; there are lots of endorsements, like with [ newspapers ] who interview you and get to know you. [ There's ] not something that's going to cause a problem if a nephew or niece comes before me; if it's possibly a son or a wife, you're getting into something a little bit different because there's the appearance of impropriety.
WCT: What's your involvement with the gay and lesbian community been like?
TW: Aside from personal friends, very little. In college, my roommate for three or four years was gay; I knew at the time. We had a lot of [ similar ] interests; we were musicians.
WCT: Is Chicago politics what you thought it would be?
TW: A lot of things that you thought were folklore are definitely true. You find out that something said today may not be tomorrow—so far, thank goodness, that has not been the case for me; people who said that they were behind me are still behind me. You have to keep your ear to the ground.
The other thing is that my opponents have not been campaigning. I have people on every side of town. My opponent, Debra Walker, was at one event and I heard that she left some literature. I also heard that she has a billboard on the North Side. Some people just put their names on the ballot and see what happens. I don't think that [ opponent Tom ] Doran even has a Web site, and I'm not sure if he's doing any campaigning.
See www.ThaddeusforJudge.com .
