Judges donate campaign funds to United Way

JOLIET – The judges were unanimous: United Way was the big winner of the 2014 election.

Jeff Allen, Carla Alessio Policandriotes, Amy Bertani-Tomczak, Paula Gomora, Sarah Jones, Susan O'Leary and Richard Schoenstedt all handily retained their seats as Will County Circuit Court judges last month.

While judges can raise money to advertise when they are up for retention, they cannot keep a campaign fund once they are elected. Nor can they return what they raised to their donors.

"But we are allowed to give it to a charity and we all agreed, instead of spending money on another mailing, it'd benefit Will County more to provide it to United Way," Schoenstedt said.

"It also prevents any concerns about hearing cases (regarding) someone who receives assistance from a particular charity," Alessio Policandriotes noted.

The judges presented a $10,000 check Tuesday to United Way of Will County President Mike Hennessy and fundraising campaign chairman Jim Roolf.

Hennessy said the money will be evenly distributed between United Way's 45 partner agencies.

"There are programs of legal aid and (assisting) runaways that will interact with the court system and we hope you do see the results of how you are helping," he said.

Hennessy said the 2014-2015 United Way campaign had reached 34 percent of its $3.76 million goal last week.