DeKalb resident, Lisa Wilcox, filed an objection to incumbent Ruth Anne Tobias’ petition to run for re-election to her District 6 seat on the county board. The DeKalb County Election Board, consisting of Maureen Josh (Circuit Clerk), Clay Campbell (States Attorney), and John Acardo (County Clerk and Recorder), ruled unanimously to deny the objection to the nominating petitions for Tobias.
Notification of Electoral Board Decision (from the office of John Acardo)
On December 13, 2011, the DeKalb County Electoral Board consisting of John J. Acardo, DeKalb County Clerk & Recorder; Maureen Josh, DeKalb County Circuit Clerk; and Clay Campbell, DeKalb County State’s Attorney; met to decide the issue of Lisa G. Wilcox, (objector), vs. Ruth Anne Tobias, (Candidate for County Board District 6).
- Click here for the decision.
- Click here for the Motion to Dismiss
- Click here for the Objection and Petition Packet.
Reference: Electoral Board Hearing 07-EB-02
For questions or inquiries, please contact the Elections office at 815.895.7147.
Tobias was represented by retired judge, John Countryman. He is perhaps DeKalb County’s foremost expert in candidacy petitions.
Earlier this year Countryman represented Bonnie Kersten in her objections to two candidates for school board positions in District 428. Kersten objected to the petitions of Jeff Campbell and Corey Butler to be on the ballot for the consolidated election in April, 2011. According to her objections Campbell only had 46 of the minimum 50 signatures required. The electoral board ruled in favor of her objection and removed Campbell as a candidate.
Corey Butler was removed for more technical reasons. Countryman argued successfully that Butler violated state statutes that say potential candidates can’t use titles to influence the ballot when he identified himself as “Dr. Corey D. Butler” throughout his election filing documents. Once again that election board consisting of then school board president Michael Verbic and local attorneys Bradley Waller and Jack Slingerland sustained the objection.
In the April 2003 consolidated elections Chris Bates decided to pull out of the race for a seat on DeKalb Park District board. He filed his petition but changed his mind after the deadline for withdrawing had passed. Countryman, as Bates’ attorney, filed an emergency motion for an injunction against the Park District to keep Bates off the ballot. DeKalb County Circuit Judge Kurt Klein ordered Bates’ name be removed from the April 1 ballot.
Countryman also represented Jay Montgomery in a judicial review of the 2003 consolidated elections decision by the Sycamore School District’s election board which ruled Montgomery’s nominating petitions invalid because they were not numbered.
Even though Montgomery was eventually removed from the ballot for the missing page numbers he received more than 1,000 write-in votes to easily win a second term on the board.
Ahhh, it must be election time in DeKalb County!
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2 Comments
Mark, interesting observations. I’d suggest a FOIA for the copy of the digital recording. If that is denied there are channels through Lisa Madigan’s public access counselor’s office for a review. At any rate I’d be surprised if Acardo or Campbell denied such a request.
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For those who would like to closely review Mr Tobia’s Petition you can download her petition here:
http://www.mediafire.com/?stvda32cynsg3a8
I was in attendance at the DeKalb County Electoral Board hearing today as was informed by the Electoral Board Hearing could not be photographed or recorded. So no recording was made of the proceedings other than the audio recoding made by John Arcardo. By contrast you may recall that the DeKalb Illinois electoral board hearing on the Home Rule Petition objection was TELEVISED. So, how does one interpret this? Is there a different standard used on the county level as opposed to the municipality level. Am I allowed to FOIA the audio recording?
There were a lot of shenanigans at this hearing that need to come to light and be exposed as I’m certain the fine details will not appear in the official document.
The Board did not consider the following that was contained in the objector’s petition : (: Before the Somonauk Electoral Board DeKalb and LaSalle Counties No. 07-EB- 02). In this ruling, the board bounced the candidate off the ballot. In the case that went before the DeKalb County Electoral board it was ruled that this omission was okay. I was informed by an Electoral BOARD MEMBER after the hearing that despite the fact this item was included in the written objection, that it was not looked at. The decision in the cited case states that “the failure of the candidate failure to provide the correct date of the election does NOT comply with election code.” This was not the case in DeKalb County. So am I to interpret that that the Illinois Election code is to be applied differently in different parts of the state ? The fact the The DeKalb County Electoral board did not look at this item is probable cause for an appeal. DeKalb county electoral Board is playing by a different set of rules. It’s a shame that the Dekalb county electoral board acted this way.
I was at the hearing and the procedures were not properly layed out or followed. Mr Countryman seemed to be instructing the Electoral board on how to conduct it’s proceedings. It was as if he was running the show. Mr Arcado, Ms Josh and Mr Clay Campbell seemed to be taking direction from Mr Countryman. It appeared as if the Electoral board was not in charge of proceedings. Maureen Josh even took to correcting Mr Countryman’s misquotes of case law after Mr Countryman cited a ruling in a fictitious case (Lewis Vs Clarke) They have been dead for years after the big expedition …It was as if Ms Josh was acting on Mr Countryman’s behalf. It almost appeared as if she was leading him though part of his case. I’m quite ashamed of all three members of the electoral board. I was quite disappointed by Clay Campbell from whom I expected more from.
Mr Countryman was right on one aspect. There was no Court reporter on hand. I do believe that is required.
I have a call into the AG office and the Illinois state board of Elections to see if the board was in their right to NOT permit any recordings or photos of the proceedings.