Capitol Fax.com - Your Illinois News Radar

* UPDATED x1 * Filing day is here, and two are claiming victory so far

Posted in:

Illinois

*** UPDATE - 3:24 pm *** From Illinois Review, there are now eight filers for US Senate…

Joliet’s Christopher Pedersen submitted petitions last Monday for the Independent Conservative Party’s nomination and this morning Oak Brook’s Mike Labno submitted petitions for the Libertarian Party, in addition to the Independent Party candidates Will “Willie” Boyd from Greenville and Shon-Tiyon “Santiago” Horton from Alton.

Also joining the pack of U.S. Senate hopefuls is former Republican U.S. Senate primary candidate Andy Martin, running on the Illinois Reform party ticket.

[ *** End of Update *** ]

* Keep in mind that even if he did manage to gather enough valid signatures to get on the ballot, there are still some serious legal challenges ahead for Scott Lee Cohen’s candidacy…

The would-be independent candidate for governor has had teams of signature collectors out of the streets for weeks, trying to gather the required 25,000 by Monday’s deadline.

Just before a Sunday afternoon news conference at his campaign headquarters, Cohen spokesman John Davis said they have the 25,000 — plus more than 100,000 to spare. In total, the campaign says they have 133,170 signatures — more than 5 times the required number.

The lawyers will definitely earn their paydays sifting through all of those signatures.

Considering that Cohen was caught using winos and junkies as petition passers, there is probably a lot of, um, junk in that stack. George Ryan demanded that his highly well-oiled machine gather 100,000 signatures for his 1998 gubernatorial bid. One of his top lieutenants back then told me that the petition drive was the most difficult, grueling experience of his political life.

* Forrest Claypool will also file today…

Forrest Claypool says he has more than the necessary 25,000 signatures to get on the ballot. Claypool’s a Democratic Cook County commissioner hoping to run for county assessor.

CLAYPOOL: The only way we will not be on the ballot, I believe, is if there’s something wrong with the system.

From a press release…

In a resounding statement of support for independent reformer Forrest Claypool, over 90,000 Cook County voters signed his nomination petitions for Cook County Assessor in just 77 days.

The effort involved 912 volunteer circulators, all of whom signed forms stating that they did not pass petitions for Democrats, Republicans, or the Green Party in advance of the February primary. Many had never volunteered for a political campaign before.

“I am truly humbled by the outpouring of support from Cook County taxpayers who are fed up with politics as usual,” said Claypool.

The filing comprises more than 6,500 pages, stands over 2 ½ feet tall, is bound by metal rounds to ensure a uniform, solitary filing, and weighs approximately 75 pounds.

The Claypool campaign claims they collected an additional 4,200 signatures, but threw them out because they didn’t meet their standards.

Video…

* Related…

* Our View: Tired of laughable candidates’ election wins? Start paying attention: As with Cohen, the wealthy Chicago pawnbroker who briefly held the Democratic nomination for lieutenant governor in the Land of Lincoln before word spread about a previous arrest for allegedly threatening his prostitute girlfriend with a knife, among other embarrassments, South Carolina’s Alvin Greene brings some hefty political baggage with him.

* Cohen plans to enter gov race as independent

posted by Rich Miller
Monday, Jun 21, 10 @ 10:06 am

Comments

As far as Cohen’s petitions go, the number should not impress anyone. Considering the quality of his circulators, a vast majority are probably people who aren’t registered, didn’t put the right address, are simply made up, or are registered in a different state.

Claypool ran a very professional outfit, and the signatures that were voluntarily removed demonstrate a high level of due diligence.

Comment by Anon Monday, Jun 21, 10 @ 10:18 am
“Well oiled machine.”

Lots of snickering on this side of the computer monitor.

Comment by Aldyth Monday, Jun 21, 10 @ 10:21 am
This is Illinois. Why are we still acting shocked? Did someone suddenly start demanding that everyone on our ballot be an upstanding citizen? If they did, then someone ought to go through the ballot and contact the nominees and tell them that there is a new standard being applied for the first time.

Comment by VanillaMan Monday, Jun 21, 10 @ 10:26 am
Vman - Who exactly is acting shocked?

Comment by Small Town Liberal Monday, Jun 21, 10 @ 10:31 am
You know, unless Quinn and/or Berrios gets what is plausably an election law change, ie, saying that someone who voted in the Democratic Primary can not sign for an independent in a primary, Scott Lee Cohen and Forrest Claypool will have to stay on the ballot. I do not see, despite the petition quality, a way to knock over 90,000 signatures off the ballot. If I were Quinn and the party, I would talk about what matters to Illinois, JOBS, UNEMPLOYMENT and HEALTH CARE, not worry about SLC. Forrest and “bad Democrats.” They are handing this election to the Republicans.

Comment by Independent Minded Dem Monday, Jun 21, 10 @ 10:39 am
–The only way we will not be on the ballot, I believe, is if there’s something wrong with the system.–

You knew the system going in, right? As a Daley lifer, you’ve been a part of it.

I’ve run across Cohen circulators, but not Claypool. That probably says something about both Claypool’s efforts and my usual rounds.

Comment by wordslinger Monday, Jun 21, 10 @ 10:41 am
Wordslinger @10:41: I was approached by a Claypool petition volunteer within a few days of his announcement at my Metra station in the city. I gladly signed. More than one commuter, upon hearing that the petitions were for Claypool, lined up to sign, too. As for Cohen petitioners, I saw nary a one.

Sounds like Claypool’s efforts so far have worked out just fine. I look forward to filling in his arrow on the November ballot.

Comment by Northsider Monday, Jun 21, 10 @ 10:53 am
Claypool a Daley lifer? maybe since 1989. he was a Quinn/Madigan/Washington person before that.

as for the petition challenges, the Odelson yarn is this….if you
voted in a party primary in the past primary election, you cannot
sign a petition for an Independent candidate.

while they are not directly related, I wonder if voting in a primary means you cannot contribute to a candidate from another party, you know, voted Dem, want to contribute to Kirk? that would
seem odd, and wrong, and certainly hard to administer, so
why limit signers of a petition?

Is the Odelson argument against Constitutional rights?

Comment by Amalia Monday, Jun 21, 10 @ 10:58 am
I don’t believe a person who voted in a party primary election can sign a petition for a subsequent independent candidate. Nor should they. Just as Claypool didn’t bother to vote in the Democratic primary, his petitions should be limited to hose of the same ilk.

It’s also pretty self-righteous for him to say that he’s on unless there is something wrong with the system. It makes me think that there may be some validity problems, notwithstanding his “due diligence”.

Comment by Great Caesar's Ghost! Monday, Jun 21, 10 @ 11:10 am
Pretty sure that as of now, you can sign a petition even if you voted in the primary. I don’t think it’s been established in any law at this point, and it’s just speculation. And there’s no good reason for that rule.

Self righteous? He pulled in 90,000 signatures. What he is saying about “something wrong with the system” almost certainly is referring to the primary issue. Considering his voluntary removal of signatures, highly trained collectors, and detailed instructions for volunteers, I don’t think there will be any validity problems.

Comment by Anon Monday, Jun 21, 10 @ 11:19 am
Today, the Constitution Party will file about 45,000 signatures for their candidates, for all statewide races. Many conservatives, who don’t like Rep. Kirk, will vote for Randy Stufflebeam, and many liberals, who don’t like Alexi will vote for the Green Party candidate, LaBron Jones.

Comment by Conservative Veteran Monday, Jun 21, 10 @ 11:20 am
I didn’t know LeBron Jones was running. For a correction, it is LEALAN. If the “real” LeBron was running for US Senate, he would win hands down.

Comment by Independent Minded Dem Monday, Jun 21, 10 @ 11:26 am
Yes, the Constitution Party will file today and then, come November, it’ll win its usual .0000002 percent of the vote.

P.S. What a wonderful misnomer…

Comment by Northsider Monday, Jun 21, 10 @ 12:14 pm
Wordslinger - Claypool’s people were very active; I work in the Loop and there was someone every 2 blocks, they were at Ogilvie, they were in front of the Ace Hardware in Park Ridge. I could go on and on and to reiterate what Northsider posted, people were lining up to sign.

Comment by persnickety Monday, Jun 21, 10 @ 12:35 pm
=== Considering his voluntary removal of signatures ===

Based on the fact that only about 5% of the names were removed, I’m guessing he only removed people who clearly lived outside of Cook County. MAYBE he removed people who printed their names and/or didn’t put in an address.

Comment by Yellow Dog Democrat Monday, Jun 21, 10 @ 12:58 pm
He also probably removed clearly fraudulent sheets, like from paid-per-signature people where sheet after sheet was clearly made up. The point is, he didn’t have to.

Comment by Anon Monday, Jun 21, 10 @ 12:59 pm
In 1998 George Ryan used dozens of Sec. of State employees on the petition challenge to knock the Libertarians off the ballot. The Chicago Tribune reported this time-sheet finding days after the November election.

But the Libertarians had around 60,000 signatures if I recall. The logic Ryan’s lawyers were able to use (until the courts reversed it AFTER the election) was that if a petition circulator got one bad signature, then all of the signatures that circulator turned in were invalid.

Whether or not any of these candidates get on the ballot, is pretty much completely arbitrary under Illinois’ private petition challenge system.

These candidates can be thrown off the ballot without any legal justification by the Board of Elections, and then later after the election the courts can say they were wrongly removed and there isn’t much of anything the candidates can do about it. If you are lucky, like Joe Parnauraukis was, a court might put you back on the ballot, but that is rare.

As for petition requirements, they are outdated, ancient. old fashioned, discriminatory, and should be abolished. Make Cohen pay the State Board of Elections a $20,000 filing fee to get on the ballot instead of wasting all that money paying whinos for signatures. They are throwing gobs of money down the drain every election with this incumbent protection ballot access racket they have in Illinois.

Look at all the interest in candidates not from the Ds or Rs this year. Madigan and the Democrats can either change the ballot access laws this year to reflect the name of their party, or they will suffer for decades for their anti-democratic tactics in this election cycle. Illinois voters have been educated for the past decade about our discriminatory ballot access laws and it is going to start catching up with the anti-democratic Democrats.

Comment by TaxMeMore Monday, Jun 21, 10 @ 1:31 pm
This should be an interesting signature review for Cohen.

Nothing like ofering som desperate for money pay per siganture commission.

Comment by Ghost Monday, Jun 21, 10 @ 3:24 pm
Ceasar’s Ghost and Yellow dog are on the right track…already blaming ‘the system’ sounds like code to me. As if when he does not make it on the ballot he can say that the system failed him, where as he has obviously failed us. I would have loved to support Claypool for County Board President, but I don’t think he wanted to go up against Toni P. and that’s why he said he was going into the business world, when that didn’t pan out, I think he put together this crack ball idea. If reform was what he is after, then he should try to do it, but I will not accept the idea that he is planning an uphill battle for reform. He is a bright guy, reform from within, not as an indy…i’d bet if Preckwinkle did not win the primary so well, he would be filing petitions today to run against her.

Comment by dem_doug Monday, Jun 21, 10 @ 3:27 pm
Keep in mind that even if he did manage to gather enough valid signatures to get on the ballot, there are still some serious legal challenges ahead for Scott Lee Cohen’s candidacy…

Rich, just curious does he face any more legal challenges than Claypool?

Comment by downstate hack Monday, Jun 21, 10 @ 3:35 pm
Yes, DH, because Cohen voted in the Democratic primary and ran for office during the Democratic primary. Claypool neither voted in the primary nor ran for anything.

Comment by Rich Miller Monday, Jun 21, 10 @ 3:36 pm
#

Yes, DH, because Cohen voted in the Democratic primary and ran for office during the Democratic primary. Claypool neither voted in the primary nor ran for anything.

Thanks Rich, I appreciate the info.

Comment by downstate hack Monday, Jun 21, 10 @ 3:53 pm
dem doug, on what basis do you make the statement
on Claypool that the business world did not pan out?

Comment by Amalia Monday, Jun 21, 10 @ 5:46 pm
It’s really very simple. Claypool not voting in the Democratic Party says it all. Can’t wait to vote for Berrios. Hispanic Community needs another leader especially in these times.

Comment by anon Monday, Jun 21, 10 @ 6:00 pm
Claypool is a phony. He found out his buddies Obama and Axelrod were not going to make him even richer than he already is with his healthcare company. He then switches gears to run for Assessor. He is an opportunist and not the great reformer he pretends to be. He is just another arm of the Axelrod Machine. Yeah, that is right. The Axelrod machine. Other members include Obama, Quinn, Alexi, Rahm, Quigley. Lower level officials like Sufferdin, Orr and Gainer are also part of thw Axelrod Machine. All mask as reformers. All use this guise just to get power and money for themselves and their inner circle. They will not be happy until they totally eliminate the likes of Daley, Berrios, Madigan and Burke.

Comment by Old Timer Dem Monday, Jun 21, 10 @ 11:23 pm
Wow, Ted E. Leverenz Filed for State rep in the 78th, i’m shocked……..

Comment by I'm Just Saying Tuesday, Jun 22, 10 @ 9:31 am