Sangamon County State’s Attorney Dan Wright is among seven candidates vying to be appointed to an associate circuit judge vacancy created by the July 23 death of Matthew Mauer.
And former State’s Attorney John Milhiser, Wright’s former boss when Wright was an assistant state’s attorney, is now working for Wright as an assistant state’s attorney prosecuting people charged in felony cases, according to county records.
Wright’s name appeared in results of an advisory poll of lawyers in the 7th Judicial Circuit who were asked to evaluate all seven candidates on characteristics ranging from integrity and temperament to overall suitability for being a judge.
The results were released Sept. 29 on the website of the Illinois State Bar Association, which conducted the unscientific poll.
Milhiser, 53, returned to the State’s Attorney’s Office on July 10, and is being paid $75,000 per year as a part-time employee, according to county records.
Wright received approval from the Sangamon County Board’s finance and court services committees in April to fill the vacant position that Milhiser was hired to fill.
Wright declined comment on his interest in the associate circuit judge position and Milhiser’s hiring.
Milhiser told Illinois Times he agreed to return to the State’s Attorney’s Office after Wright approached him in the spring and asked whether he could “help out” out with the prosecution of felony cases.
“I understand the important work that prosecutors do and the impact it can have on the community,” Milhiser said. “I enjoy working with the victims and with law enforcement on these cases to make the community safer. … I’ve used the role of a prosecutor as a problem-solver.”
Milhiser said his work for the office has been just short of full-time.
Mauer, 62, previously worked as an assistant state’s attorney, then in private practice, and as a felony public defender before being appointed as an associate judge in 2013.
Mauer had been a quadriplegic since an accident at age 13 and was a graduate of Griffin High School, the former Sangamon State University and the University of Illinois College of Law.
The 7th Circuit’s six circuit judges will vote on Mauer’s replacement and are expected to announce their decision in the next few weeks, Ryan Cadagin, Sangamon County’s presiding circuit judge, told Illinois Times. In addition to Sangamon, the circuit includes the counties of Greene, Jersey, Macoupin, Morgan and Scott.
When asked whether he would consider applying to be appointed state’s attorney if Wright were chosen to be an associate judge, Milhiser said, “There’s not an opening right now, but if there was an opening, I’d be interested.”
Associate circuit judges are appointed to four-year terms, and there’s no limit to the number of times they can be appointed.
Associate judges are paid $222,661 annually. Circuit judges are paid $234,380, and the Sangamon County’s state’s attorney is paid $197,436.
The voluntary ISBA poll was sent to all ISBA members who practice or reside in the circuit. Results of the poll aren’t binding on the circuit judges in their decision to fill Mauer’s position.
Wright’s ratings were based on 144 responses, the highest number received for any of the seven candidates.
Though results were close in some categories, Wright placed sixth out of the six candidates who received ratings when it came to integrity, impartiality, temperament and sensitivity. He ranked third on legal ability and health, fourth on meeting the requirements of the office, and fifth on court management.
Wright has received the highest available peer rating from the legal profession’s respected Martindale-Hubbell ratings company when it comes to ability and integrity.
The other candidates for associate judge are Andrew Affrunti, Rex Gradeless, Kateah McMasters, Lorelei Nickols, Abby Sgro and Ali Mikels. There were an insufficient number of respondents for Mikels’ ratings to be valid, so they weren’t listed, the ISBA said.
Milhiser was first hired as an assistant state’s attorney in Sangamon County in 1997 and entered private practice in 2003. He returned to the office in 2008 as the first assistant state’s attorney, or the office’s second in command.
Milhiser, a Republican, was appointed state’s attorney in 2010 when former State’s Attorney John Schmidt, also a Republican, was appointed a circuit judge. Schmidt, who later became an appellate judge, died in 2017 at age 52.
Milhiser was elected state’s attorney in 2012, defeating Democrat Ron Stradt, and was reelected in 2016 before being appointed U.S. attorney for the Central District of Illinois in 2018. His appointment by former President Donald Trump, a Republican, was affirmed by the U.S. Senate in January 2019.
Milhiser resigned in February 2021 after Joe Biden, a Democrat, defeated Trump in the November 2020 presidential election.
Milhiser ran in the GOP primary for Illinois secretary of state in June 2022, losing to former state Rep. Dan Brady, R-Bloomington, who later lost to former state Treasurer Alexi Giannoulias, a Democrat.
Since leaving the U.S. Attorney's Office, Milhiser said he taught government, history and English at Lawrence Education Center during the 2021-22 academic year, and he worked with other former U.S. attorneys and law-enforcement officials nationwide to start the nonprofit American Center for Law & Public Safety.
The center says on its website, taclps.com, that it is "dedicated to safeguarding the rule of law, civil liberties, and the Constitution," and that the group "strives to defend these principles against the radical and lawless progressive agenda taking precedence over the rule of law."
Milhiser’s wife, Gail Noll, is a Sangamon County circuit judge. To avoid a potential conflict of interest while her husband works for the State’s Attorney’s Office, Noll has recused herself from handling all future felony cases, and current felony cases on her docket have been reassigned to other judges, Cadagin said.
Wright, 44, a Republican, was a partner at the Springfield law firm of Brown, Hay & Stephens before joining the State’s Attorney’s Office as a felony assistant state's attorney in 2016. He was promoted to first assistant state's attorney in 2017 and was appointed state’s attorney the next year, when Milhiser was appointed U.S. attorney.
Wright won a four-year term as state’s attorney in 2020, defeating Democratic challenger Mike Drake by 18 percentage points.
Filing by candidates who want to run in the Republican and Democratic primaries for state’s attorney begins Nov. 27 and continues through Dec. 4. The primary will be March 19, and the general election will be Nov. 5, 2024.
This story has been updated.
