Opinion No. 95-8

April 18, 1995

TOPIC: Judge sending "thank-you" notes to campaign contributors.

DIGEST: A judge may send a personally signed "thank-you" note to campaign contributors.

REFERENCES: Illinois Supreme Court Rule 67 of the Code of Judicial Conduct, Canon 7 (145 111.2d R.67); Illinois Supreme Court Rule 63C of the Code of Judicial Conduct, Canon 3 and accompanying commentary (145 111.2d R.63); Commentary to Canon 7B(2) of the ABA Model Code of Judicial Conduct (1972); Commentary to Canon 5 of the ABA Model Code of Judicial Conduct (1990); 10 ILCS 5/9-13 (West 1992); Illinois Judicial Ethics Committee Opinion 93-11; Florida Committee on Standards of Judicial Conduct, Opinion 77-22 (January 10, 1977); Georgia Judicial Qualifications Commission Opinion 85 (June 2, 1986).

FACTS

A judge has established a campaign committee to raise funds for the judge's campaign for judicial office. The committee conducts a fundraising event raising approximately $10,000.00. The judge plans to send a written acknowledgement thanking each contributor to the event. The judge plans to author and sign each "thank-you" note.

QUESTION

May a judge personally sign a "thank-you" note to campaign contributors, or must the "thank-you" note be authored and signed by a representative of the judge's campaign committee?

OPINION

Illinois Supreme Court Rule 67B(2) provides that a candidate for judicial office may not personally solicit or accept campaign contributions, but may establish a committee for the purpose of conducting fund raising activities. The Rule is silent as to whether or not a judge may be informed of the identity of campaign contributors. It if is permissible for a judge to know the identity of contributors, then there would be no reason to prohibit a judge from personally sending "thank-you" notes to those contributors. On the other hand, if the purpose of Rule 67 is to insulate judicial candidates from the identity of contributors, then personally written "thank you" notes would violate Rule 67B(2) and acknowledgements could only be made by a representative of the campaign committee.

The Committee Commentary to Rule 67 sheds some light on the issue:

Though not prohibited, campaign contributions of which a judge has knowledge made by lawyers and others who appear before the judge may be relevant to disqualification under subsection C of Canon 3 (emphasis added).

The Commentary indicates that judges are not prohibited by Rule 67B(2) from being informed of the identity of contributors, although knowledge that a person made a contribution might become relevant to disqualification under Illinois Supreme Court Rule 63C if such contribution resulted in the judge's impartiality being reasonably questioned. See Illinois Judicial Ethics Committee Opinion 93-11 (judge not obligated to disqualify solely because a lawyer or party was a campaign contributor).

Interpreting Rule 67 to permit a judge to know the identity of contributors is also consistent with other statutory and code provisions, the effect of which is to disclose the identity of at least some campaign contributors to judicial candidates.

First, pursuant to 10 ILCS 5/9-13 (West 1992), all candidates including judges must file campaign reports identifying persons and entities making contributions in excess of 150.00. The report is a public record and must be signed by the judge or the treasurer of the judge's political committee. A judge who chooses to sign the report would certainly review it prior to signing and in that way become familiar with the identity of contributors of more than $150.00. See Illinois Judicial Ethics Committee Opinion 93-11 (since such information is available to the public, it might be desirable for judges to know the identity of their contributors).

Second, pursuant to Rule 67B(1)(a)(i) a judge is permitted to attend political gatherings including political fundraisers. The Rule does not prohibit a judge from attending his or her own fundraiser. A judge in attendance at his or her fundraiser would meet, and indeed most likely thank, contributors attending the function.

In addition, the Commentary to Canon 7B(2) of the 1972 ABA Model Code of Judicial Conduct provides that, in the context of judicial campaigns, the names of campaign contributors should not be revealed to the candidate unless the candidate is required by law to file a list of his or her campaign contributors. If this limitation on revealing the identity of contributors was applicable in Illinois, it would restrict disclosure to persons who contributed more than $150.00 to the judge's campaign. To permit a judge to be informed of the identity of contributors of more than $150.00 while prohibiting disclosure of contributors of lesser amounts would seem to be counterproductive and is probably the reason that the limitation found in the 1972 ABA Commentary to Canon 7B(2) has never been incorporated into the Commentary to the Illinois Code of Judicial Conduct. Indeed, as mentioned previously the Committee Commentary to Rule 67 provides that knowledge of contributors is not prohibited. Equally noteworthy, is the fact that the limitation found in the 1972 ABA Model Code was omitted from the Commentary to the Canon governing political activity, Canon 5, of the 1990 ABA Model Code.

For the reasons stated above, the Committee is of the opinion that a judge may send a personally signed "thank-you" note to campaign contributors. Also see Florida Committee on Standards of Judicial Conduct, Opinion 77-22 (January 10, 1978) (since campaign funds must be reported a judge may personally thank individuals who make contributions) and Georgia Judicial Qualifications Commission Opinion 85 (June 2, 1986) Judge may send written acknowledgement to campaign contributors since campaign committees are required by law to file reports identifying all contributors). Although not required by the Illinois Code, a judge may, in a particular situation, find it preferable to remain uninformed of the identity of campaign contributors and rely on his or her campaign committee to send written acknowledgements to contributors.