Though the point is moot, the Illinois Supreme Court announced in a May 24 decision it will not hear an appeal challenging three Oak Park candidates who appeared on the spring ballot.
Oak Park residents Kevin Peppard and Robert Milstein had challenged the candidate nominating petitions of incumbent trustee candidates Peter Barber and Glenn Brewer and first-time village clerk candidate Lori Malinski.
The objectors argued the three should have filed individual petitions with 251 signatures each, instead of the single petition they filed, which contained 735 signatures.
Though Barber, Brewer and Malinski appeared on the April 4 ballot, none were elected to their respective offices.
“I’m glad there’s some closure to it,” Malinski said. “I’m not surprised they made this decision, and my only regret is that it happened. As a first-time person throwing her hat into the political arena, in Oak Park of all places, I didn’t expect people to be as vindictive. They seemed to have an agenda to want to do this. It’s unfortunate because it’s a very un-Oak Park thing to do.”
Starting in January, the Oak Park electoral board, a Cook County judge and an Illinois Appellate Court had all ruled in favor of the candidates. Following the Appellate Court defeat, Milstein and Peppard filed an appeal to the Illinois Supreme Court on March 16.
In the Appellate Court’s decision, released Feb. 24, the judges ruled that each signature stood for each of the candidates, and said their petitions were valid.
“While combining the independent respondent candidates’ names into one petition was technically deficient, the 735 signatures on the petitions are signatures for each of the candidates, and these signatures meet the threshold requirements to be on the ballot,” the Appellate Court decision stated.
“The Appellate Court had agreed that the candidates violated the election code, but that there was no mandatory penalty,” Peppard said. “We had hoped to establish that such a penalty was implicit.”
Messages left with Peppard and Milstein’s attorney Burt Odelson and the candidates’ attorney Brian Wojcicki were not immediately returned.
Twitter @steveschering
