I Owe, I owe...
Cross posted from the ICPR Blog, The Race is On:
Lest anyone think ICPR has been picking on Rep. Calvin Giles, know that there are several sitting legislators and potential candidates who owe fines to the State Board of Elections and who might face ballot forfeiture if they don’t pay those fines by January 19th, when the State Board of Elections is due to certify the ballot for the primary election. It's not that Giles is alone, it's just that Giles owes more than all others combined.
Rep. Giles owes $144,000 in outstanding fines. But others are on the list, or could be by certification. Rep. Patricia Bailey owes $6,200 in fines. Rep. Mary Flowers owes $100 in fines. Three others -- Rep. Jack Franks, Rep. Robin Kelly, and Sen. Don Harmon -- have matters before the Board and may owe fines come January, but they still have pending appeals that might get them out of trouble. (Rep. Deborah Graham, who was on the list as of the last meeting of the Board, paid her fines the day of the meeting). (Rep. Bailey may have other problems)
One assumes that incumbents who face re-election next year will file to run, but the law applies to all candidates, incumbents and challengers alike. Nobody knows who will file next month, but two candidates who lost in 2004 are on the list: Derrick Prince, who took 25% of the Primary vote against Rep. Marlow Colvin, owes $3,250, and Thomas Morris, who garnered 23% in the General against Rep. Lou Lang, owes $1,800.
State law forbids the Board to certify to the ballot the name of any candidate who owes fines. Time will tell who files and is left on the list in January.
6 comments:
And, time will tell if the law is enforced.
Thanks for the comments! For Cal, the Board enforced the provision in 2004 and has indicated that they will again in 2006. Whether Giles challenges the action, and what the court does this time, remains to be seen. Certainly the last $60K in fines will not be subject to the same legal manuevering that the first $80K was. It will certainly be worth watching, and we expect the legislature to address any problems the court may find. And for the Angery Jolietan, I believe Board of Election rules allow fines to disappear if the committee is closed for two years. Successor committees are also liable for fines, but not if the two years have run. If Bailey is prevented from running for office for the next five years as media report suggest is likely, she might not mind shuttering her fund for the next two. But that's up to her.
Harmon? I hadn't heard of that one.
I'd take the "matters before the board" with a grain of salt. These are frequently paperwork errors on the part of either a campaign or the Board itself. I'd wait until the Board rules on these before assuming Franks, Kelly, or Harmon are somehow recalcitrant in filing properly or paying fines.
Interesting that Don Harmon, Deborah Graham, and Calvin Giles all represent parts of Oak Park, in the western Cook suburbs,that supposed bastion of honest government....
Are we Oak Parkers somehow giving them the impression that it's ok to cheat?
It will be interesting to see if Giles draws a primary challenger. (Forget about the General Election; in Giles' district, a Republican candidate would either be running for exercise or to insure that he got a better obituary in the Chicago Tribune when he died.)
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