Yorkville Electoral Board knocks aldermanic candidate from April 4 ballot

YORKVILLE – The Yorkville Electoral Board has sustained objections to an aldermanic candidate’s nominating petitions, preventing his name from appearing on the April 4 election ballot.

In a hearing Jan. 4 the board ruled that the candidate paperwork for Sammy Hall, who was seeking a seat on the Yorkville City Council from Ward 4, contained flaws.

In a second hearing, the board overruled objections raised against Ward 3 candidate Malanda Griffin’s nominating petitions, meaning that her name will appear on the ballot.

Ward 4 candidate Russell Corneils filed the objections to Hall’s petitions. The two men faced each other across a table at the hearing, with Hall expressing outrage that Corneils was attempting to have him removed from the race.

“I’m kind of appalled by the situation,” Hall said.

The Electoral Board consisted of Mayor John Purcell, City Clerk Jori Behland and Ward 3 Alderman Chris Funkhouser.

The trio found that Hall had failed to file a statement of economic interest with the Kendall County Clerk’s Office by the Dec. 19 deadline and that the pages containing residents’ signatures were not numbered.

City Attorney Kathleen Field Orr advised the board that both the economic interest statement and the petition page-numbering are mandatory.

Hall offered a mail receipt dated Dec. 30 for the economic interest statement, but Orr said the statement had to be filed by the last day of the nominating petition filing period.

Corneils also had challenged the validity of some signatures on Hall’s petitions as coming from persons living outside the city or Ward 4, contending that there were not enough valid signatures remaining to place Hall on the ballot.

While the board agreed that the signatures were invalid, it ruled that the 10 valid signatures which remained met the minimum requirement and the board overruled that objection.

Hall suggested that he was the victim of dirty politics.

Looking directly at Corneils, Hall said: “I would never do this. If you got me pal, you got me.”

With Hall eliminated from the ballot, the Ward 4 contest becomes a two-person race between Corneils and Maryalice Lundquist. They are seeking to replace former council member Jason Peterson, who was elected to the Kendall County Board in last November’s election.

Funkhouser serves on the Electoral Board because he is the longest serving alderman, but for the second hearing involving his own ward he was replaced by Ward 1 Alderman Ken Koch to avoid what would be an obvious conflict of interest.

Griffin, who is coming off an unsuccessful attempt to win a seat on the Kendall County Board in the November election, is challenging Funkhouser for the Ward 3 seat.

Ward 3 resident Donald Vandermyde filed an objection to Griffin’s candidate paperwork, alleging that her statement of economic interest was not properly filed with the Kendall County Clerk’s Office and that a statement of candidacy sheet did not include the ward number.

Attorney Fred Dickson, representing Griffin, said his client had filed the economic statement with the county’s Elections Office, which is part of the County Clerk’s Office.

“It’s a distinction without a difference,” Dickson said, characterizing Vandermyde’s objection as “pettifogging.”

The board agreed and overruled the objection.

As to the statement of candidacy page, the board ruled that there was no confusion as to what office Griffin is seeking, noting that all of the signature pages included the Ward 3 designation.

“If the ward number was not on the petition sheets that would be different,” Behland said.

The Ward 3 and Ward 4 two-person races will be the only municipal contests on the April 4 ballot in Yorkville.

Purcell, Ward 1 Alderman Daniel Transier and Ward 2 Alderman Craig Soling are running unopposed.

The mayor is expected to appoint a replacement to fill the brief unexpired portion of Peterson’s term remaining until the election.

The Yorkville City Council consists of eight aldermen with two each from four wards. Half of the council seats are up for election every two years.

Those not up for election in the spring include Koch, Ward 2 Alderman Joe Plocher, Ward 3 Alderman Matt Marek and Ward 4 Alderman Seaver Tarulis.