For refusing to pass a bill disallowing sitting mayors and alderman from sitting on election boards that kick off the people running against them.


By Joseph Ryan, Chicago Tribune reporter

9:57 p.m. CDT, May 29, 2013

Most local officials are poised to keep their controversial power to kick political opponents off the ballot after lobbying from those officials helped stall a reform proposal in the General Assembly.

Instead, a piecemeal effort is moving forward that will abolish panels that rule on candidate eligibility in school districts only, shifting such authority to the county level. The latest proposal leaves the controversial panels in place for cities, villages, community colleges and townships across the state.

While critics of the current system support changes for the school districts, they say the final proposal will do nothing to stop scores of other local candidates from being kicked off the ballot by political opponents for questionable reasons.

Cook County Clerk David Orr called it "disappointing." And David Morrison, acting director of the Illinois Campaign for Political Reform, said it was "an unfortunate retreat" because city and village panels tend to be the most political and face the most criticism.

A recent Tribune investigation found that the panels are composed of local officeholders who frequently know little about the election laws they are called on to enforce. They are also often politically aligned for or against the candidates whose fate they control.

The current system has been criticized for decades, even by several veteran attorneys who handle such cases.

The Tribune reviewed about 200 cases in advance of this year's local elections and found panels kicking dozens of candidates off the ballot, sometimes for legally questionable reasons and often while citing paperwork issues, such as a loose paper clip or a missing phrase on a petition sheet.

Ultimately, tens of thousands of suburban voters were left with fewer choices on who should run their towns.

The latest efforts to change the system faced opposition from the Illinois Municipal League, an organization that lobbies lawmakers on behalf of mayors, aldermen and trustees. The group argues that local control is best and that moving such power to the county won't dilute political influence.

The Senate, with little debate, passed a proposal last month to shift all ballot-whittling power to the county.

Then the measure landed with a thud in the House. Even though that chamber voted to approve a similar proposal in 2005, a vote likely won't come in the House this time. The legislation was stripped of its language in a committee.

House Speaker Michael Madigan's spokesman said legislative leaders agreed to deal with the issue in a different piece of legislation that covers a variety of election law changes, including online voter registration, which Orr supports. That legislation abolishes panels in school districts only.

The measure passed the Senate on Wednesday and has Gov. Pat Quinn's support.

"There didn't appear to be a great deal of enthusiasm among local officials to cede authority to county officials," Madigan spokesman Steve Brown said.

State Sen. Daniel Biss, D-Evanston, who shepherded the initial reform measure, noted that changing the school districts was at least one element of his original legislation.

"One step at a time," Biss said.

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