Published: October 01, 2009 07:53 pm      

Four vie for seat on the bench

DANVILLE — It is the second time around for a Vermilion County man vying for a seat on the bench in the Fifth Judicial Circuit.

Attorney Frank Young is joined by candidates in Edgar and Coles counties in the race for the judge’s seat that opened as a result of the retirement of longtime Circuit Judge Dale Cini last year.

This is Young’s second stab at the bench — his campaign as the candidate for the judge’s seat in Vermilion County fell short in the 2006 general election.

The list of candidates still has time to grow. Petition filings for the various offices in the 2010 general election do not begin until the last week in October and runs through Nov. 2.

Young, himself a former state’s attorney in Vermilion County, is joined by attorneys from two other counties in the Fifth Judicial Circuit: Edgar County State’s Attorney Matt Sullivan, Coles County Assistant State’s Attorney Eric Neumann and Charleston City Attorney Brian Bower.

All four candidates are Republicans.

The judge’s seat became part of the 2010 election when longtime Judge Dale Cini retired in Decem-ber 2008 after almost 15 years on the bench. Former Judge Richard Scott came out of retirement to fill the position through December 2010.

The Fifth Judicial Circuit encompasses Vermilion, Coles, Clark, Edgar and Cumberland counties.

Sullivan, who lives in Paris, has worked at the county’s state’s attorney for 13 years. Bower works as a private attorney as well as his duty as city attorney in Charleston.

Neumann worked previously in the Coles County Public Defender’s Office before becoming an as-sistant state’s attorney in 2001.

Young was state’s attorney in Vermilion County for eight years before opting not to run for re-election last year.

The 2010 primary is set for Feb. 2 while the general election will be Nov. 2 next year. Voters from each of the Fifth Judicial Circuit’s five counties will vote on the judge’s position.