Judge Valarie Turner of Chicago; slacker, loser

The state of Illinois presented Valarie English Turner with a law license in 1991 after she graduated from the University of Chicago Law School.

In one matter, Valarie found it acceptable to allow a lawyer who is running for election to the bench in November to wear a robe and hear cases at the Markham courthouse, which is a clear breach of judicial ethics as well as a potential violation of the law. (Chicago Tribune)

Valarie allowed attorney Rhonda Crawford to take her place on the bench. Ms. Crawford was allowed to preside over at least two cases on August 11, 2016, both of which were traffic cases.

The Cook County Prosecutor’s office, who learned of the incident from a Chicago Tribune story, said they found it “deeply concerning” and planned to review the matter.

As a consequence of her obvious misconduct, Chief Circuit Judge Timothy Evans issued an order removing Valarie from her judicial position and ordering that she be relegated to an administrative post.

Unfortunately for the Cook County taxpayers, they will be paying Valarie her regular $188,000 judicial salary even though she will only be performing administrative tasks. In short, Valarie the Loser will be paid $3,615 a week or $90 an hour. Is Chicago a great country or what?