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Gray says objections likely the end of his campaign, claims he was defrauded

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Illinois

* Kent Gray’s congressional campaign Facebook page yesterday…

Well…some bad news from the congressional campaign trail. I think my “frontrunner” designation by Politico came to a rapid halt today. Two objections were filed which will likely bounce me from the Illinois ballot.

Like much of my political involvement over the years, there is an interesting back story. Because so many of my FB friends are politically active around the country in different states, I thought I’d share what happened.

In Illinois, to get on the ballot you have to collect signatures of qualified voters on paper petitions. All of those petitions are notarized and bound together in “book form” and filed with the State Board of Elections. If you don’t have enough valid signatures, or there are other flaws in your paperwork, an objector can file to remove you from the ballot. This afternoon was the deadline to file objections.

Although I got started pretty late in this race, I was in decent shape (I thought) on signature collection. That was until my team that had collected the largest number of signatures failed to show up the weekend before filing. Somehow, the young man who had hundreds of signatures in his possession became unreachable for almost a week. He has claimed his phone “broke”.

The good news is that I hadn’t paid for all of those signatures yet. The bad news for me is that I had paid some of the bill…but that makes it bad news for the young man and anyone who worked with him to defraud me. Or put him up to it.

So, stay tuned to see if this was a setup. Hopefully, I’ll get to the bottom of who violated the law to abscond with the petitions. If it’s who I think it was, there will be some fascinating legal twists and turns. Once political dirty tricks cross a certain legal line, they can have serious civil and criminal exposure.

Never a dull moment in Illinois politics!

Thanks for all your support and well wishes the past two months.

He only filed about 83 pages of signatures, at max 10 per page (several were incomplete). He needed 1,373 valid signatures to qualify for the ballot.

posted by Rich Miller
Tuesday, Dec 10, 19 @ 3:33 pm

Comments

Be skeptical:

https://www.sj-r.com/news/20181115/kent-gray-suspended-from-law-practice-for-one-year

Comment by Powdered Whig Tuesday, Dec 10, 19 @ 3:39 pm
If you’re going to outsource something like this, you’d better trust your people. Given his ties to Trump, what are the odds he relied on some national group with no real clue about requirements? The snark in me would ask if it was a Russian outfit.

Comment by fs Tuesday, Dec 10, 19 @ 3:40 pm
An entire campaign reliant on one young person showing up with a stack of petitions…probably doesn’t deserve being on the ballot.

It’s absolutely bonkers that this man is the state political director for the President…

Comment by NIU Grad Tuesday, Dec 10, 19 @ 3:42 pm
==The good news is that I hadn’t paid for all of those signatures yet.==

That seems to be an unfortunate choice of words.

Comment by Demoralized Tuesday, Dec 10, 19 @ 3:42 pm
Paid circulators aren’t not always reliable. You have to have some trustworthy volunteers of your own.

Shenanigans can and do happen. It is vital to secure all signature sheets and never to count anything that is not in hand.

Comment by Practical Politics Tuesday, Dec 10, 19 @ 3:45 pm
I guess he couldn’t blame the IRS for this one.

Comment by pool boy Tuesday, Dec 10, 19 @ 3:45 pm
== It’s absolutely bonkers that this man is the state political director for the President…==

Is he still? I thought he was during the primary because no one else was really interested. They fired him right before the primary when they realized he hadn’t done anything anywhere in the state for the campaign.

Comment by Dave W Tuesday, Dec 10, 19 @ 3:45 pm
This is pretty revealing. It has a “If I ever get my hands on this phantom, there will be hell to pay” quality. One of Trump’s boys, huh?

Comment by Sayitaintso Tuesday, Dec 10, 19 @ 3:50 pm
Gray only had perfect signatures, the best signatures, just not.. enough… signatures.

Ugh.

Knocking Gray off the ballot, the objectors did Gray a favor.

Comment by Oswego Willy Tuesday, Dec 10, 19 @ 3:53 pm
“I ran out of gas. I… I had a flat tire. I didn’t have enough money for cab fare. My tux didn’t come back from the cleaners. An old friend came in from out of town. Someone stole my car. There was an earthquake. A terrible flood. Locusts. It wasn’t my fault I swear to God.”

Comment by Ron Burgundy Tuesday, Dec 10, 19 @ 3:54 pm
Oh my–https://www.illinoistimes.com/springfield/suspend-kent-gray-lawyer-disciplinary-board-says/Content?oid=11447913

Comment by Nearly Normal Tuesday, Dec 10, 19 @ 3:55 pm
Your first mistake…you paid for signatures. Amateur.

Comment by Amateurs dude Tuesday, Dec 10, 19 @ 3:57 pm
Your main signature sheets with your verified signatures should come from the doors, and be collected by people within your operation that you trust.

Everything else is just to jack up numbers.

Sorry Kent but you played yourself.

Comment by BilboSwaggins Tuesday, Dec 10, 19 @ 3:58 pm
Thank you Ron Burgundy for that laugh.

Comment by SpfdNewb Tuesday, Dec 10, 19 @ 3:58 pm
“My team that had collected the largest number of signatures failed to show up the weekend before filing. Somehow, the young man who had hundreds of signatures in his possession became unreachable for almost a week.”

“And you want to be my latex salesman?”

– MrJM

Comment by @misterjayem Tuesday, Dec 10, 19 @ 4:09 pm
People here know I am not a fan of mean but since it is the truth, here goes ….

He is as mentally lazy as he is physically lazy; and that is saying a lot.

Comment by R A T Tuesday, Dec 10, 19 @ 4:10 pm
Good news is his suspension just ended, so once he pays his ARDC fees (might as well wait until January 1st now), he will be ready, willing, and able to represent you the public with the same level of care shown here.

Comment by Ron Burgundy Tuesday, Dec 10, 19 @ 4:13 pm
At first, I thought this was going to be an article on a politically-active descendent of the late US Rep. Ken Gray, and a gratuitous “smell the meat a-cookin’” reference, but no such luck.

Comment by Six Degrees of Separation Tuesday, Dec 10, 19 @ 4:24 pm
How was Gray defrauded? If he could not locate the star circulator for one week, how could he possibly know that the young man had hundreds of petition signatures in hand?

Maybe if the candidate or a member of his campaign team actually looked for the circulator or offered to pay him for his work some results might have been obtained.

Not returning calls for one full week with a filing deadline approaching ought to have set off alarm bells. A good campaign could have collected additional signatures during that same time frame.

Comment by Practical Politics Tuesday, Dec 10, 19 @ 4:25 pm
I nominate Kent Gray for the 2019 “worst political excuse” Golden Horseshoe award.

Comment by welp ok Tuesday, Dec 10, 19 @ 4:31 pm
If you know how Kent Gray operates, you will know that his statement is 100% baloney. He lies in every election he is a part of. In this case, not a part of.

Comment by NotAnonymous Tuesday, Dec 10, 19 @ 4:59 pm
The ARDC is interesting. I’ve been a bit late some years (mid January, usually because Nov/Dec were trial months) and the ARDC does sent out multiple letters.

Beyond that, maybe I’m obsessive, but I always carry my ARDC card in my wallet. You never know when you might need it (i.e. a client is arrested and you need to speak to the client, and the card clears up any confusion with the local police - it has happened).
I honestly thought everyone did the same.
The idea that he would not know if he is registered just does not ring true.

Comment by Gooner Tuesday, Dec 10, 19 @ 5:45 pm
Breach of contract maybe. Dirty trick quite possible. Crime? Nah.

Comment by Esqwire Tuesday, Dec 10, 19 @ 5:55 pm
“I nominate Kent Gray for the 2019 “worst political excuse” Golden Horseshoe award.”

Let’s not demean the Golden Horseshoe award, which is for the best and brightest. I suggest that this particular award be the rusty and tetanus infected Horseshoe award.

Comment by Huh? Tuesday, Dec 10, 19 @ 6:09 pm
He filed his petitions on day 1 of filing. If he was far short, then why didn’t he spend the next week gathering more signatures and file with the required amount on the final day? Because he’s lazy and dishonest.

Comment by Dave W Tuesday, Dec 10, 19 @ 6:58 pm
Laugh at Gray, but it can happen to the best of them — State Representative Kelly Cassidy is being challenged in her bid to be elected 49th Ward Democratic Committeeperson — and it sounds as if she has legal problems. Signature sheets that were not properly notarized (as in no notary at all). Petition sheets with headings for Representative in General Assembly included in the petition for Ward Committeeman.

This is why many elected officials spend a few dollars for an election lawyer to check out their petitions.

Comment by Bipartisan Follies Tuesday, Dec 10, 19 @ 7:51 pm
Not surprised since the people he paid to circulate for his father’s attempt to run as an independent for Senate several years ago managed to forge my name and use my address even though I would never have signed it and don’t live in the district his father was running in. This saved the voters from being defrauded.

Comment by House of cats & kittens Tuesday, Dec 10, 19 @ 7:58 pm
the ARDC bit is very interesting. making a list of pols who are in office but who have been suspended from the practice of law by ARDC. a certain township…..

Comment by Amalia Tuesday, Dec 10, 19 @ 8:00 pm
He would have been better to not even make an excuse. By admitting that he was buying grass-roots support he’s made a fool of himself.

Comment by Just Me Tuesday, Dec 10, 19 @ 10:19 pm
@Dave W

He didn’t file on the first day.

Comment by NotAnonymous Wednesday, Dec 11, 19 @ 5:47 am
Even if this mystery circulator had “several hundred signatures” it sounds as though that still wouldn’t be enough. He was coming in at just under 1000 according to Rich’s calculations. He’d need at least 1000 more.

Comment by Anon-ka-donk Wednesday, Dec 11, 19 @ 6:14 am
You’re kidding? Someone who offered to circulate for you didn’t follow through? Pretty sure that happens in EVERY campaign but nobody else calls it fraud.

Comment by Anonymous Wednesday, Dec 11, 19 @ 8:55 am
Literally, shaking my head. Just goofy enough to generate some publicity from time to time, but never much success.

Comment by SMH Wednesday, Dec 11, 19 @ 8:59 am
= Like much of my political involvement over the years, there is an interesting back story. =

Understatement.

Comment by Bertrum Cates Wednesday, Dec 11, 19 @ 9:11 am
If I am paying circulators to collect signatures, I am also paying someone to drive around just to monitor the circulator. It’s politics, why would you trust anyone?

Comment by JSI Monday, Dec 16, 19 @ 3:09 pm