Madison County Circuit Judge, John B. Barberis, Jr., has announced that he will run for the Illinois 5th District Appellate Court in the November 2016 election. Judge Barberis will be running as the Republican candidate for the seat being vacated by the honorable Justice Bruce Stewart who has announced his retirement after his current term expires. If elected, Barberis, a lifelong conservative, promises to base his decisions on a strict adherence to the Illinois and U. S. Constitutions. He intends to set an example of the highest judicial ethics by maintaining integrity and honesty and impartiality both on and off the bench. John Barberis successfully ran for the Madison County Circuit Judge position in the November, 2014 Election. In that election, Judge Barberis was outspent by his opponent 30 to 1, with Barberis spending less than $5,000 and his opponent spending approximately $150,000. Despite the financing disparity, Barberis won that election by a 54 to 46 percent margin.
Prior to being elected Circuit Judge, Barberis was a part time state’s attorney for nearly fifteen years and was in private practice for eighteen years. Throughout the course of his career he handled cases in many different areas of the law including family, business formations and general business law, personal injury, constitutional law, title work and real estate law, traffic and criminal defense, probate law, and class action work. As a prosecutor, he handled everything from child support enforcement, traffic and misdemeanor prosecution to mental health cases handled out of the Alton Mental Health Hospital. He most recently served as City Attorney for Collinsville, as Corporate Attorney for Gateway Convention Center in Collinsville and as Zoning Officer for the Village of St. Jacob, Illinois where he has resided on a small farm with his family since 2000.
Judge Barberis is a lifelong resident of Madison County, Illinois. He attended elementary school at S.S. Peter & Paul Catholic Grade School located in Collinsville, Illinois. He graduated from Collinsville High School in 1986. John went on to attend and play basketball at Eureka College in Eureka, Illinois (College home of President Ronald Reagan) where he stayed for two years before transferring to Illinois State University in Normal, Illinois. He graduated from ISU with a B.S. degree in Sociology. After college John went to work for Madison County as a Juvenile Probation Officer where he was the first officer hired to start up the Home Detention Program for juvenile offenders. After two years working for the Madison County Probation Department he enrolled full time at St. Louis University School of Law where he received his Juris Doctor Degree.
Judge Barberis has been married to his wife, Laura, for 25 years, and they have three children. His campaign can be reached by telephone at (618) 960-5471, by email at [email protected], or through the campaign’s Facebook page, Judge John Barberis for Illinois 5th District Appellate Court.
