Another backdoor arrangement?

The Rockford Register Star reports today that Winnebago County State's Attorney Paul Logli, a Republican, will not seek re-election to that post next year and likely will run for a circuit judgeship.

The paper also says Circuit Judge Gerald Grubb, another Republican, will retire on Aug. 1 and will be replaced by an appointment made by Illinois Supreme Court Justice Bob Thomas, yet another Republican.

The paper further reports that Deputy State's Attorney Chuck Prorok, a Republican, is interested in seeking election as Logli's successor.

You can see where this is going, right? The stage would seem to be set for the appointment of Logli to Grubb's job as judge and the appointment of Prorok to Logli's job as state's attorney. That way, the two of them can run as incumbents in next year's election. Incumbents, of course, almost always have a great advantage at the ballot box.

This kind of thing is called backdooring. It's an arrangement whereby a person fills an elected post by political appointment rather than by election and then presents him- or herself to the voters bearing the title of the office (as in Judge Paul Logli, if that's what happens in this case).

Stuff like this is a Republican tradition in Winnebago County politics, especially with respect to judgeships and the state's attorney's office. It happened on several occasions in the 1970s and '80s. Indeed, it was by appointment, not election, that Logli first became state's attorney in 1986.