Tim Placher
(formerly) for
Will County Judge
2nd Judicial Subcircuit
Joliet, Shorewood, Rockdale, Crest Hill
Democratic Primary, February 5, 2008
Tim Placher for Will County Judge
361 Wilcox Street
Joliet, IL 60435
ph: 815-723-1497
jodi
News
The latest happenings and press accounts about Tim's campaign.
Placher Seeks Will County Bench
Joliet--Joliet attorney and teacher Tim Placher, 46, will seek the Democratic nomination for circuit judge in Will County’s second judicial subcircuit, comprised of west Joliet and Troy townships. The primary will held February 5, 2008.
Placher, a lifelong Joliet resident, has worked in a variety of fields locally. A Joliet city attorney from 1997-2003, he won several high-profile cases, obtaining a temporary injunction against the construction of a state sex-offender facility, shutting down a lingerie shop operating sex peep shows and closing an unsanitary trailer park. He also won a “not guilty” verdict on behalf of Joliet in a wrongful death case that resulted in the largest damages award in Will County history against the city’s co-defendant.
During his tenure at city hall, Placher also was instrumental in the early success of the Joliet JackHammers. He suggested the team’s name and composed original drawings whose elements were used in the official JackHammers logo. He also contributed signage and marketing ideas, and wrote and recorded an original song, “The JackHammer Jingle,” for use at Silver Cross Field.
Placher has also enjoyed success as a writer. One of the original Herald News Common Sense writers in 2002, he subsequently became a regular columnist for The Daily Southtown, where his work appeared for the past 5 years. He has remained a frequent contributor to The Herald News. In 2006, he earned an Illinois Associated Press award for column writing. The Chicago Headline Club honored him this year with a prestigious Peter Lisagor Award for his first-person column on the Catholic church sex abuse scandal.
A musician and singer since his youth, Placher was organist at the Cathedral of St. Raymond in the early 1980s, then served as organist and choir director at St. Jude Parish in New Lenox for 14 years until 2002.
He is also an Illinois certified teacher with 6 ½ years of experience. Currently, he works full time as a music and choir teacher at Drauden Point Middle School in Joliet. Prior to attending law school, he taught at St. Mary Magdalene School in Joliet and Troy-Shorewood School in Shorewood.
He is a 1993 cum laude graduate of Northern Illinois University School of Law. He received his B.A. from the College of St. Francis in Joliet and is a 1979 graduate of Joliet Catholic High School, where he was class salutatorian.
He serves as Vice President of the Joliet Catholic Academy Alumni Board and, also, Director of Buildings and Grounds for St. Joe’s PONY Baseball Association, where his son Cal, 12, is an 8-year veteran. His wife, Patty, is a teacher in Joliet Public Schools.
Herald News - Open Line
January 18, 2008
Bush appointment not thrillingI'm calling about Tim Placher's letter to the editor. Maybe the reason that people aren't jumping up and down about Bob Dow is because George Bush is naming him a federal judge for life. Maybe that's why people are not so excited about him being named a federal judge. Especially being named by George Bush.
Lucie Baird Macfarlane
Joliet
Other News
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Tim gathered 1,000 signatures on his nominating petition, more than double the required number. But more impressive was the fact he got 95 percent of them on his own, walking door-to-door throughout his district for more than a month. When he drove to Springfield on Nov. 1 to file the completed paperwork, the first-time candidate began feeling pretty patriotic as he arrived in Lincoln's hometown. So before delivering his petition to the Board of Elections, he paid a visit--and a little homage--to Illinois' most famous citizen, having a U.S. Park Service ranger snap his picture in front of Honest Abe's home.
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From The Herald News; Letters to the Editor
Boy, these are heady times at The Herald News. Nearly every day for the past few weeks, we have been treated to a bevy of wonderful stories from our local legal system. If it's not the cheating fire chief and his wife, it's the Bolingbrook cop who apparently deals with his marital woes by eliminating his wives. If it's not the St. Pat's area firebombers, it's another flippant Brian Stanley article about a trial involving a murdered toddler. Yes, the editors have had a treasure trove of stories to choose from.
But I have to wonder why some good news from our local legal community hasn't been able to find even an inch of space.
It's been several weeks now since President George Bush signed a Dec. 5 order naming one of Joliet's own, Bob Dow, a federal court judge. Dow was sworn in to the lifetime appointment Dec. 6 and will work for the U.S. District Court in Chicago.
This appointment is an incredible achievement for anyone. But for a guy from Joliet who hasn't even reached his 45th birthday, being singled out for such a position is a success story that shouldn't take a back seat to any news, let alone the sea of woe filling the front page lately.
Dow is a local boy made good. He gives honor to the communities of St. Raymond's and Joliet Catholic, his boyhood schools, and to the Joliet community as a whole. I'm proud to know Judge Bob Dow. I congratulate him on his success and hope the rest of my community will, too. If only someone -- The Herald News, perhaps -- would bother to report this to my community.
Tim Placher
Joliet
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The Will County Democrats have done it again. I don't know if they are simply ignorant of the primary election process or just flagrantly arrogant. I first noticed their pre-primary endorsement of candidates during the 2006 primary when they endorsed Mike Turk for county treasurer. Excuse me, but isn't a primary a nominating election in which party voters choose the nominees who will run against the other political parties' nominees in the general election? Of course, we know how that county treasurer primary turned out. Democratic voters overwhelming supported Pat McGuire and he went on to win the election.
Now, Will County voters are getting "educated" about the candidates running in the upcoming Feb. 5 primary. Yesterday, I received a letter from Dan Maher and Dan Vera, two Will County Democratic officials. Their letter asked me to support a certain Democrat for circuit judge in Subcircuit 2. I was outraged!
Does our local Democratic Party not trust its party members to choose the Democratic nominee?
I visited the Will County Democrats Web site and found only this candidate listed on the site for circuit judge in Subcircuit 2. A reader could presume only one Democrat was running for the position. I then navigated my way to the State of Illinois site where I found three other Democratic candidates for Subcircuit 2. Am I being misled by my own party?
For the information of my fellow Democratic voters, there is not one but four judicial candidates in Subcircuit 2. They are, in ballot order, Jeff Allen, Tim Placher, Melanie Manning and Daniel F. O'Connell. I urge my fellow Democrats to research these candidates, visit their Web sites and get the information our own party seems intent on keeping from us.
Jodi K. Wartenberg
Joliet
Tim Placher for Will County Judge
361 Wilcox Street
Joliet, IL 60435
ph: 815-723-1497
jodi
