The Town is saying “no” to putting three people on the ballot. These three people are running for positions not recognized by the town under “Town Code” but the state statue says if Normal identifies as an “incorporated town” they have to elect a Town Supervisor, Town Collector and Town clerk.
The Town published the nomination of other candidates in the 2023 Municipal election but didn’t publish the candidates running for the three positions mentioned in state law.
Stan Nord sent an email to staff about the lack of publishing. He stated in the email: “The petitions filed on Nov. 28th for town clerk, collector, and supervisor are not published on the Town’s website with the other petitions that were filed during the election filing window. Hopefully, this was an over-site and is not hinting that a ruling has been made by someone outside of the electoral board process to deny ballot access.
Without publishing ALL of the petitions filed, those who may wish to file objections to these unpublished petitions may argue they are being denied their right to review election petitions during the statutory objection window by the town simply because a different publishing protocol is being used with them.Regardless of whether anyone believes these offices are supposed to be on the April 2023 ballot or not the individuals who filed these petitions have due process rights.”
Finally, today, Dec. 7, the Town has released a statement verifying the objection the the candidates who submitted petitions.
This email sent by Stan Nord, a Councilman, led Jodi Pomis, an employee of the Clerk’s office, to accuse Nord of being “intimidating, unethical and unprofessional.” Pomis claimed Nord was accusing them all of committing felonies.
Nord stated in the email that he was not accusing the clerk’s office, which currently does not report directly to the public, of any wrongdoing at this time.
“My intent is to ensure you are aware that it is a felony to knowingly prevent any person from being nominated for elected public office. I don’t believe an adequate defense against any felony charge is ‘my boss instructed me to commit it,’ if that were the case,” Stan Nord stated in and email.
Pomis got choked up when speaking at Public comment and Nord has said the Town staff is in a bad spot.
“I feel bad for the town staff. If they don’t please the Town Manager they might have to look for another job. If they speak against her they could be looking for a new job. We need these offices that answer to a public and not a Town manager. Election issues should be up to an independent office where you don’t have a Town manager or a mayor looking over who is turning in nomination petitions and then hiring an attorney to figure out how to get individuals off of the ballot. The Town has spent your tax dollars to attack individuals, not to find out if we should have these elected offices,” said Nord.
Nord said the Town has said they are not a village. In a ruling judge Scott Kording has recognized the Town to be an “Incorporated Town” but also noted that there are some some outstanding issues. Nord said these offices should be elected. If you identify as an incorporated Town you have to have these according to state statute.
“Do the residents of Normal have their full suffrage rights to run for the offices that they are entitled to? Do the residents have their suffrage rights to vote for these officials? Are we being suppressed by the Town of Normal staff from being able to vote for people who are suppose to be representing us in government? I think having more representation is better than having less. In Normal, being an incorporated town, we have less representation than other incorporated towns in the state of Illinois. The state statues say each, every and all incorporated towns have to have these elected positions,” said Nord.
Now, an outside Chicago lawyer Michael Kasper, has issued a determination, and the petitioners were sent a letter via first class U.S. Mail explaining this opinion.
Kasper’s opinion is as follows:
- The offices for which the petitions were filed are not elective offices under the Town Code.
- As a result, the Town of Normal cannot certify these names to the County Clerk for inclusion on the 2023 municipal ballot.
- The petitioners’ names will not appear on the April 2023 municipal ballot
Normal hired attorney Michael Kasper to represent them. Kasper long has been the attorney for the House speaker Mike Madigan and his Democrat Party of Illinois. Back in 2016, Kasper also was a lobbyist for ComEd. Also Kapser is an attorney defending the SAFE-Act. Multiple states attorneys have filed suit against the act and claim it is unconstitutional.
There’s a 22-count indictment that accuses Madigan of leading for nearly a decade a criminal enterprise whose purpose was to enhance Madigan’s political power and financial well-being.
The question now becomes: Does State statute trump Town Code?
Patrick Dullard and Jeff Fritzen, both of Normal, filed objections to the petitions for these positions. These objections will go before the Town of Normal Electoral Board at 11 a.m., Friday, Dec. 9 in Council Chambers at City Hall (4th floor, Uptown Station).
