* As I told subscribers yesterday, Sen. John O. Jones has dropped out of his Republican primary bid after his inadequate petitions were challenged by fellow GOP state Sen. Kyle McCarter...

Jones, a 16-year veteran of the General Assembly, withdrew from his March 20 matchup against state Sen. Kyle McCarter, saying he wasn’t sure he could survive a challenge of his nominating petitions by his opponent. […]

McCarter challenged Jones’ nominating petitions and found enough potential problems that Jones exited the race rather than embark on a legal fight. To run in the Senate primary, a candidate must have at least 1,000 valid signatures from registered voters within the district. Jones said if each of McCarter’s challenges had been successful, he would have been dozens of signatures short of staying on the ballot. […]

It wasn’t clear Wednesday whether the move means an end to Jones career in Springfield, which began in 1995 when he was elected to the House. He moved into his Senate seat in 2003.

“I’m going to leave my options open,” Jones said.

Gathering enough signatures to run as an independent will be a whole lot harder than it was in a party primary, so he’d better get his act together if that’s what he’s going to do.

*** UPDATE 2 *** Adam Andrzejewski is alleging fraud. From an e-mail…

Furthermore, seven signed affidavits alleged petition signature forgery. Evidence of more forgery was gathered on five more petition sheets. Rather than fight these legal assertions, Jones decided to drop out of the race. In addition, the objector was prepared to allege that union reps circulated nine pages of petitions on government property: inside a state prison and a school.

[ *** End Of Update *** ]

* Only a relative handful of people, like Democratic Sen. Dave Koehler, had an easy time gathering petitions this year.

It used to be, candidates could just flood the Board of Elections with thousands of iffy petitions, making it very difficult if not impossible to find enough signatures to kick them off the ballot (that’s what happened with Scott Lee Cohen and his gigantic mountain of signatures in 2010, for instance). Now, there’s an upper limit, after which the Board stops counting. Candidates have to make extra sure they’re turning in their most valid signatures or face the boot.

* But the current political climate is so toxic for politicians of all stripes that just going out a couple of weekends and gathering tons of sigs is no longer a viable option. People are in no mood to cooperate, and lots of candidates ended up turning in petitions on the last day of filing this year because they weren’t prepared for the reaction at the doors.

“Hi, I’m running for the Illinois General Assembly, you know, the people who raised your taxes and your electric utility rates, haven’t solved the pension mess, can’t pay the state’s bills, are still handing out legislative scholarships, forced you to register with the government when you buy Drano, allowed Chicago to install speed cams…”

[Sound of door slamming.]

* And it isn’t just legislators and legislative candidates having trouble…

Chicago’s election board voted unanimously Wednesday to remove Ald. Rey Colon (35th) from the March 20 primary ballot for Democratic ward committeeman because he did not collect enough valid signatures from registered voters in the ward.

Colon has served as committeeman since 2004, and his exit leaves only one candidate for the top party post: Nancy Schiavone, a lawyer who unsuccessfully challenged Colon for alderman last year. Schiavone could not be reached for comment. […]

Colon is the third incumbent ward boss who has encountered trouble staying on the ballot for this year’s primary. Ald. Toni Foulkes (15th) dropped her re-election bid after her nomination papers were challenged. Raymond Lopez, who ran against Foulkes for alderman in last year’s election, will run unopposed for committeeman of that ward.

Ald. Howard Brookins (21st) is currently fighting to stay on the ballot after a preliminary examination by election board officials found he was about 100 signatures short of the required total.

That’s just craziness. These are ward committeemen. They’re supposed to have an organization. But, things are tough all over and sometimes people can get lazy.

Reformers thought the new signature requirements would work against challengers before filing started. So far though, more incumbents than usual are having real problems. Heck, even the Obama campaign didn’t file petitions on the first day, and, as of this moment, hasn’t filed yet.

* And this story probably won’t help, either…

A southwest side community activist who’s running for State Senate says he was offered a state job and money to drop out of his political race, and he said that offer was secretly taped by the FBI.

Democrat Raul Montes Junior is running in the 12th District, a job that is also being pursued by incumbent 11th District Democrat Steve Landek, who is also the mayor of southwest suburban Bridgeview.

Earlier this month, Montes says he got a call from a political consultant he believes was representing Landek. They met in a restaurant on Taylor Street, where Montes said the consultant tried to entice him to withdraw from the primary race.

“He said, ‘We could compensate you for your time,’” Montes said. “‘Thousands of dollars, and possibly get you a Chicago coordinating job, and you’ll be working for Senator Steve Landek. What do you think about it?’ I started smelling something fishy.”

Montes said he didn’t feel comfortable about the offer and called the FBI. On Christmas Eve, he said he received a voicemail from Landek asking to set up a face-to-face meeting.

Montes said the FBI equipped him with an undercover recording device when he met with Landek last Thursday in a suite at Toyota Park in Bridgeview. He said they talked for nearly two and a half hours, and at the end of the conversation, Landek asked Montes what it would take to get him out of the race.

“He said, ‘What if I offered you something to come on staff with me at the Senate? You’ d be making over $30,000 a year,’” Montes said. “I listened to him. He goes, ‘What about if I give you some money?’ I go, ‘Money?’ He says, ‘Yeah. I can give you a check right now for $3,000, but you gotta withdraw. Go on vacation. Go somewhere you want. Come back in a few days, and then you work for me on my campaign.’”

Sen. Landek insists he did nothing wrong. But, wow, what a story this is.

*** UPDATE *** Interesting…

Well-known election lawyer Burt Odelson says that he took a phone call from his friend Landek and advised him that it was perfectly legal for Landek to offer Montes a job for dropping out of the race.

“I talked to Steve in the middle of the meeting,” said Odelson, who is also representing a challenger to Montes’ nominating petitions. “Steve offered him a position on his campaign committee to help him in the campaign.

“Steve and I talked about this before he did it, because [Montes] did pass a lot of petitions and he did it all himself, and you can’t find people like that anymore who do that hard work.

“Especially, he lives in an area that’s new to Steve’s district. He’s Hispanic. It makes all the sense in the world to get young blood involved in the organization. Additionally, if you can get your opponent off the ballot, you get him off the ballot.”

Odelson said Landek did nothing wrong in offering Montes a job.

“It goes on every single day in politics,” Odelson said, “from every level of government including the judiciary. Steve offered a job on his campaign staff, and if that worked out he would consider him to work on his senate staff. … And it would save a lot of money not having to run against somebody run against him, even though Steve is going to beat him 80/20 or 75/25. He’s not a serious challenger. He lives with his parents in the basement.”