Election Results are In! |  |
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ABOVE RIGHT--Chandler Hadraba prepares to make history by voting for himself in the first Libertarian Precinct Committeeman race in DuPage County, March 19, 2002. | ABOVE |
20 March 2002: In a landmark event for the Libertarian Party of Illinois, 14 Libertarians are elected as Precinct Committeemen. The DuPage County Election Commission, sitting as the DuPage County Officers Electoral Board is hereby ordered to print the names of each of the candidates – plaintiffs on the ballot for the General Primary Election to be held on March 19, 2002. | |
Obviously, this is a great victory for us, for the Libertarian Party and for the people of Illinois. The battle is not yet over as the attorney for the DuPage County Electoral Board has stated that he wants to confer with the defendants before deciding how to proceed. We should know whether or not they are going to appeal this or throw in the towel either today or tomorrow. An update will be posted at that time. In the meantime, let’s savor this victory and offer our congratulations to our Attorney, Andrew Spiegel." | |
Click Here to see the Judge Ronald Mehling's Order (Requires Adobe Acrobat Reader. Get it for free by clicking here.) | |
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Some of the members of the DuPage 16 that attended the 4 March 2002 Libertarian Club of DuPage meeting. From left to right: Todd Zimmerman, Elizabeth Quaintance (2000 State Rep. Candidate), Ted Semon (Chairman of DuPAC, and leader of the DuPage 16), Don Parrish, Mike Mandel, Charles Romer, Lani MacArtney, John Teschky, Andy Spiegel (Attorney for the LP of Illinois, and the DuPage 16) | |
Please read David Hughes's short history of electoral corruption in Illinois, A History of Cheating, Illinois' dirty little secret of a fascist political establishment |
The links to the legal documents require Adobe Acrobat Reader. Get it for free by clicking here. |
John Teschky, one of the DuPage 16 and current President of the Libertarian Party of DuPage County created and maintains this site. Please check back for updates. |
03 January 2002
DuPage Libertarians gearing for battle over ballot
By Diana Wallace Daily Herald Staff Writer
Posted on January 3, 2002
Sixteen members of the Libertarian Party are gearing up for a legal battle over the right ot get their names on the March 19 primary ballot in DuPage County.
The 16 would-be candidates aren't trying to unseat any officeholders of the Republican or Democratic Parties.
Rather, they have filed petitions to run for the job of percinct committeemen in their respective precincts in six townships. "To actually form a grass-roots political organization is really important to us," said Lombard resident John P. Teschky IV, president of the Libertarian Club of DuPage.
In DuPage, the two major parties each elect committeemen from roughly 700 precincts countywide. Committeemen serve a purely partisan function, working at the most grass-roots level to get voters in their precincts to support their parties' candidates.
Libertarians say getting committeemen on the ballot would help the party establish and legitimize itself in DuPage.
A hearing on the matter in front of the DuPage County Officers Electoral Board has been scheduled for Tuesday.
Howerver, the election board's attorney, Patrick Bond, already has issued an opinion that the Libertarian Party cannot run committeemen candidates because it's not an "established party" throughout DuPage.
To be an established party, a candidate from that party must have garnered at least 5 percent of the vote in the previous election.
That did occur in 2000, when Libertarian Party candidate Elizabeth Quaintance ran against retiring state Rep. Vince Persico in the 39th State Representative District. Quaintance recieved almost 22 percent of the vote.
But Bond said that outcome establishes the party only in that state House district, not in individual precincts.
No Libertarian candidate filed to run for the seat Persico is vacating, though party officials said the plan to select a candidate after the March primary.
Members of the party say the county election commission is going against its own rules in attempting to deny their candidacies. Their lawyer, Andrew Spiegel, said the group may appeal to the circuit cour if it's denied Tuesday, and also may file a federal civiel rights lawsuit against the county.
"Look at the (Republican Party dominance in DuPage County), and you kind of see how the establishment works to protect itself with any given device," said Donald M. Parrish Jr., another would-be Libertariand candidate. "We're following their rules and they're not."
The Libertarians also are arguing that because no one filed objections to their petitions, the election commission has no right to step in and try to thwart their candidacies.
"It's not the job of the election board to police the ballot," said Chandler Hadraba of Wheaton, another would-be candidate.
8 January 2002
Ted Semon, Chair of the DuPage Political Action Council of the Libertarian Club of DuPage, released the following statement on behalf of the DuPage 16:
A sign is posted in the DuPage County Election Commission stating that its reason for being is "Assuring the Consent of the Governed". The 16 of us, who were denied the right to appear on the ballot in the March primary, most emphatically do NOT consent to what has happened here today. The Commission is supposed to "...conduct all federal, state, county, and local elections occurring within its boundaries", not arbitrarily decide who gets on the ballot. Our attorney has clearly demonstrated why the Commission has overstepped it's authority in denying our right to campaign for elected office. And, even if the Commission DID have the power to independently challenge petitions, its argument that each of the 717 Precincts in DuPage County is a County-Wide office is absurd. How can a precinct be a County-wide office when the only people who can vote for a Precinct Committeeman are those registered voters for that Precinct?
We're not trying to run "against" anyone. The Republican and Democratic Precinct Committeemen candidates running in the March Primary are not our opponents on the ballot. And so we have to ask: "What is the Election Commission afraid of?" We think the answer is clear. They are afraid of allowing any third parties the chance to organize here in DuPage County. By denying our right to even appear on the ballot, they are using the "kill them on the beach" strategy.
9 January 2002 The Daily Herald
16 Libertarians thrown off ballots in DuPage County
By Stacy St. Clair Daily Herald Staff Writer
Posted on January 09, 2002
Libertarians are familiar with defeat in DuPage County, having never gained more than 22 percent in a local election.
But the party suffered a devastating loss Tuesday - even by Libertarian standards.
So devastating, in fact, many of its candidates won't appear on the March 19 primary ballot.
The DuPage County Election Commission unanimously denied 16 aspirants' petitions to run for Libertarian precinct committeemen. In doing so, the panel ruled Libertarians are not an "established" party locally.
"They are afraid of allowing any third parties the chance to organize here," said Ted Semon, who had hoped to be a committeeman in Bloomingdale Township. "By denying our right to even appear on the ballot, they are the kill-them-on-the-beach strategy."
In DuPage, Democrats and Republicans each elect committeemen from 700 precincts countywide. The position-holders serve a purely partisan function, working at a grass-roots level to get voters in their precincts to support their parties' candidates.
Though nothing would preclude the Libertarians from organizing and campaigning in a similar fashion, they would lose the perceived prestige of having their committeemen's names appear on the ballot.
"It would give us an air of legitimacy," said John P. Teschky VI, president of the Libertarian Club of DuPage.
The election committee, however, ruled Libertarians were not "established." To be so, a party candidate must garner 5 percent of the vote in the previous election.
Libertarians pulled in such numbers in 2000, when Elizabeth Quaintance ran against retiring state Rep. Vince Persico in the 39th District. Quaintance received nearly 22 percent of the vote.
The county commission, however, ruled those results established the party in that district - not countywide.
The Libertarians are expected to file an appeal in DuPage County Circuit Court within the next 10 days. The would-be candidates also are expected to file federal suits claiming their civil rights were violated.
"This battle is not over," Semon said. "It's just beginning.
An ousted county board candidate, Zachary C. Wilson, took his removal from the ballot more amicably. His candidacy was denied Tuesday after the commission ruled he had not collected enough valid signatures.
"Next time I'll collect signatures more carefully," he said.
His removal leaves five candidates vying for three county board representatives from District 2, which encompasses parts of Lombard and Elmhurst.
Chicago Tribune
Ex-airport exec is Persico fill-in
By John Chase
Tribune staff reporter
Published January 9, 2002
A longtime political ally of state Senate President and DuPage County GOP Chairman James "Pate" Philip was named Tuesday to replace retiring state Rep. Vince Persico of Glen Ellyn.
Roger Marquardt, 65, a former Illinois director of aeronautics and head of the DuPage Airport, who was part of the committee selecting Persico's replacement, will complete Persico's term through the November general election. Though Marquardt is a longtime Republican precinct committeeman from Lombard, he has never run for elected office.
Several months ago, Persico said he would not seek re-election, but just last week disclosed he also plans to resign from the office effective Wednesday. The announcement sent four of the five Republicans running in the March GOP primary scrambling to lobby for the appointment to replace Persico, presumably giving them a leg up on the competition.
In choosing Marquardt, Philip selected someone who is closely tied to the DuPage Republican Party. Marquardt, too, said he was selected because of his knowledge of airport issues, given that the General Assembly could be taking up issues related to the O'Hare International Airport expansion.
"[Philip] wanted someone with some background on aviation issues, and I offered my services," Marquardt said. "I don't really know the legislative agenda this year, but I do think there are still several questions that need to be asked about the O'Hare project."
A group of 10 DuPage Republican leaders, including Philip and Marquardt and House Minority Leader Lee Daniels, met Saturday to choose Persico's replacement and heard pitches from all the candidates except Pihos. At the time, the group unanimously selected Marquardt, but didn't make it official until Tuesday, Marquardt said.
Meanwhile, the DuPage County Election Commission Tuesday rejected arguments from 16 members of the Libertarian Party to get their names on the ballot for precinct committeemen posts.
Agreeing with the position of its attorney, Wheaton lawyer Patrick Bond, the commission said the Libertarian Party cannot run committeemen candidates because it is not an established party in DuPage County.
To become an established party in DuPage, the commission said, a Libertarian Party candidate must generate 5 percent of the vote in a countywide election.
Libertarian Party attorney Andrew Spiegel, however, said the group is established in parts of DuPage because in 2000 a Libertarian candidate garnered nearly 22 percent of the vote for a state representative seat in the Glen Ellyn area. But Bond rejected that argument, saying the outcome establishes the party only in that state House district, not in individual precincts.
"Effectively, what they are saying is that a Libertarian can be elected president of the United States but still not be an established party in DuPage County," Spiegel said.
Spiegel said he plans to appeal the ruling to the DuPage Circuit Court or the U.S. District Court in Chicago.
Copyright © 2002, Chicago Tribune
10 January 2002 John Teschky, President of the Libertarian Club of DuPage
"Kill them on the beach."
That is Don Parrish's brilliant description of the DuPage Republican Party strategy against us DuPage Libertarians.
We Libertarians abhor war. It initiates violence against innocents. It distorts the market. It allows the state to chain its citizens.
But, war is exactly what the DuPage GOP wage against us. They consider DuPage County their homeland, and they fight dirty defending it. A ranking Cook County Republican with connections to the DuPage Electoral Commission told me, "They will fight you until you are crushed."
We hoped that Ballot Beach was free and open to all. Elizabeth Quaintance, and all those fortunate enough to have helped her in 2000, staked our rightful claim on a small dune.
We soon learned that the DuPage GOP warlords have no intention of letting us share the ballot.
Ted Semon and Doug Kelley were the first to defend the beach head. Without Ted's strategy and support, we would have lost the opportunity Elizabeth created. The DuPage 16 are what is left of the over forty people who volunteered to strengthen our hold on the ballot as Precinct Committeemen.
Andy Spiegel came to their support, and fought valiantly. Unfortunately, the DuPage GOP won the first skirmish, and the DuPage 16 were pushed off the ballot. (Attend the next Libertarian Club of DuPage meeting 2/4 at Z's on Roosevelt, if only to hear the account of Andy's arguments in front of the DCEB. "Once I saw I couldn't influence them, I infuriated them.")
We need to fight back and regain our rightful spot on the ballot. We cannot let the DuPage GOP think they so easily drove us from the beach head, so easily crushed us.
I know that the National and State Libertarian Parties ask for donations. We all place cash into the basket at our DuPage Club
meetings. Plus, we all donate to other charities.
But, this attack by the DuPage Republicans directly attacks our right to representation at the most basic level of government. They haven't just kicked sand in our face. They've surround us, and told us we have ten days to surrender--if we don't appeal the DuPage Electoral Board decision to the Circuit Court within ten days of 1/9/02, we lose this chance to form a recognized, established party in part of DuPage County. The Appeal will cost a minimum of $2500, plus expenses.
It is time for all freedom fighters in DuPage County to unlock our checkbooks and load our pens. Ted, Andy, and the DuPage 16 need more ordnance (they immediately contributed much to this circuit court appeal). We know its not a good time. It is never a good time for war. Please send your e-mail pledges of any amount you are able to Ted Semon (tedsemon@earthlink.net). When the legalities of this fund are understood, Ted will tell us to whom to write the checks.
Let's show the DuPage GOP that we have not yet begun to fight.
14 January 2002 Libertarian Party of Illinois News Release
Libertarian Party of Illinois files for Judicial Review In the Circuit Court of DuPage County
January 14, 2002, Wheaton, Ill. – The Libertarian Party of Illinois filed a Petition for Judicial Review in the Circuit Court of DuPage County today in an effort to force the DuPage County Election Commission (DCEC) to place the now famous “DuPage 16” back onto the ballot for the March 2002 primary for the positions of Precinct Committeemen.
The 16 Libertarians had filed petition papers for this position in accordance with all election laws and applicable codes and had no objections filed against them. Nevertheless, the DCEC ruled that these candidates could not appear on the ballot due to “an apparent conformity challenge”. The DCEC ruled that the position of Precinct Committeeman is a countywide office and, since the Libertarian Party does not have Established Party status throughout DuPage County, they were ineligible to appear on the ballot for Precinct Committeemen.
The LPI disputes this claim, citing that Libertarian State Rep candidate for the 39th district, Elizabeth Quaintance, helped to establish party status for the LPI in DuPage by receiving more than 5% of the popular vote in the 2000 general election.
Due to the 2000 census re-districting, the Illinois State Board of Elections (SBOE) has ruled “…the Libertarian Party to be an established party in any representative district which includes any portion of the former 39th Representative District…” Since these 16 precincts in question are wholly contained within these newly defined districts, it is the LPI’s position that it has every right to run candidates for these offices.
“The decision to kick us off the ballot is a real slap in the face to the citizens of DuPage and to our election system,” stated Austin Hough, State Chair of the LPI. “It’s bad enough that the Republicans and Democrats seek to remove us from the ballot when we oppose them in statewide races, but here in DuPage we can’t even run Libertarians against Libertarians.”
Libertarians are not alone in their fight for equal ballot access. When asked, most citizens, including many prominent Illinois Republicans and Democrats feel that it is un-American to keep people and political parties off the ballot. Former Illinois State Rep Cal Skinner, who introduced equal ballot access legislation when in office in 1994, said this regarding the DCEC ruling, “The Republicans and the Democrats wrote the rules, the Libertarians won by those rules, and now the powers that be say those rules do not apply. As I see it, the LPI has ballot access in these precincts. There is no reason why they cannot be on the ballot.”
The LPI is the Illinois affiliate of the Libertarian Party. Its platform advocates free markets, low taxes, personal freedoms, and personal responsibility. Over 200 Libertarians hold elective office, more than twice as many as all other third parties combined throughout the United States.
16 January 2002
DuPage Libertarians take fight for primary ballot spot to court
By Stacy St. Clair Daily Herald Staff Writer
Posted on January 16, 2002
DuPage County Libertarians have taken their battle for a primary ballot spot to the courthouse.
In a lawsuit filed this week in circuit court, 16 party members asked a judge to accept their petitions to run for precinct committeemen and to place their names on voting cards in the March 19 primary.
The county election commission last week removed the would-be candidates from the ballot after ruling Libertarians were not an "established" party locally.
"This is a slap in the face to all DuPage residents," said Austin Hough, chairman of the Libertarian Party of Illinois. "This is not a tyrannical government - or at least it's not supposed to be."
The state party has offered to pay the legal bills for the candidates, who have dubbed themselves the "DuPage 16."
The election commission's rejection was a major blow to party leaders, who have designs to make DuPage County the launch pad for a Libertarian movement in Illinois. The traditionally Republican area caught officials' attention two years ago when one of its candidates received roughly 25 percent of the vote against state. Rep. Vince Perisco in the 39th District.
Libertarians leaders viewed Elizabeth Quaintance's showing as an open invitation from DuPage voters to run other candidates. It was time, they decided, to establish a party infrastructure similar to that of local Republicans and Democrats.
In DuPage, the two major parties each elect committeemen from 700 precincts countywide. They serve purely partisan roles, working at a grassroots levels to get voters in their area to elect the party's candidates.
Libertarians do not need a formal election to organize themselves in such a fashion, but party leaders want the perceived prestige of having their committeemen's names on the ballot.
"It gives us an air of legitimacy," said Ted Semon, who wants to run as a committeeman in Bloomingdale Township.
To be an established party, a party candidate must garner 5 percent of the vote in an election. Though Quaintance netted more than 5 times the required percentage, the election committee ruled her results established Libertarians in that specific district - not the entire county.
All 16 would-be candidates live within the 39th District, which was reconfigured last year. The county rejected the argument, saying the committeemen's post is a countywide office.
The appeal is expected to be settled before the primary.
18 January 2002
Chicago Tribune
Airport board tiff tied to another race / 2nd candidate broke with Schillerstrom
By John Chase and William Grady
Tribune staff reporters
In the tightly wound web of politics in DuPage County, one race for office isn't far from the other.
Take, for instance, this week's flap du jour: the debate over whether DuPage County Board member William Maio, a close ally of Board Chairman Robert Schillerstrom, tried to intimidate DuPage County Airport Board member Kaaren Oldfield to vote for Schillerstrom's choice for airport board chairman.
Maio visited Oldfield on Jan. 11 and told her she should back Dayle Gillett, saying not doing so would be "political suicide." Oldfield took the conversation as a threat. Maio said he was only giving his friend advice. Oldfield voted against Gillett.
Amidst the controversy is Russ Horn, another airport board member and former County Board member who is running for Forest Preserve Commission. During his time on the County Board, Horn was close to Schillerstrom. Horn was lobbied to vote for Gillett but instead backed her opponent, Duane Gengler.
Why?
Well, Horn said it was because by the time Schillerstrom's people called him to ask him to vote for Gillett, he already had promised his vote to Gengler.
But it couldn't have helped that Schillerstrom is backing Horn's main opponent in the forest preserve race, incumbent Wallace Brown.
Brown is holding a fundraiser next week and has been mailing announcements in which Schillerstrom and state Senate President James "Pate" Philip are listed as "hosts."
Horn knew Schillerstrom was backing Brown, but said that had nothing to do with his vote.
"There's always a political risk when you cross the chairman," Horn said. "But that's not the reason I reached my conclusion. I thought he would be the best chairman of the board."
Speaking of which, Gengler said he is looking forward to leading the board. He also has said that he doesn't want problems between the airport board and the panel overseeing plans for a high-technology research park to be built on airport-owned land in West Chicago.
There appears to have been conflict between Schillerstrom and airport officials over details of the project. Schillerstrom is chairman of the board of a non-profit corporation overseeing development of the research park.
"I want to see total cooperation between the tech board and this board here," Gengler said. "I'd rather let things take their course because it was really the desire of this board that I accept the post."
Libertarians push forth: As expected, the Libertarian Party of Illinois this week appealed to the courts in its effort to get the names of party members on the March 19 primary ballot for 16 precinct committeemanposts.
The move comes a week after the DuPage Election Commission rejected the Libertarians' arguments for inclusion. The three-member commission said the Libertarian Party cannot run committeemen candidates because it is not an established party in DuPage County.
To become an established party, the commission said, a Libertarian Party candidate must receive 5 percent of the vote in a countywide election. But Libertarian leaders argue that the group is established in parts of DuPage because in 2000 a Libertarian candidate garnered nearly 22 percent of the vote for a state representative seat in the Glen Ellyn area.
The Election Commission, however, rejected that argument, saying the outcome establishes the party only in that state legislative district, not in individual precincts. Moreover, precinct committeemen are county positions and not dictated by legislative districts, the commission said.
Some political insiders have suggested that the Election Commission is fighting the Libertarians' efforts because the Libertarian Party, which embraces many conservative positions, often sucks votes away from Republicans.
But don't tell that to Philip, who also is chairman of the DuPage GOP.
"I don't know a damn thing about it," Philip said this week. "Nobody's talked to me about it. Every party should be able to run, but they ought to obey by the rules in the statutes."
The appeal is expected to be settled before the primary.
Free ride for Hyde: Political novice Tom Rubin has dropped his bid against U.S. Rep. Henry Hyde (R-Ill.), opting out of the primary race after Hyde challenged about 200 signatures on Rubin's nominating petitions. Hyde now faces no challenge in the primary.
Rubin, 29, of Addison said Hyde's challenges meant he probably would have had to go to court against the veteran congressman, who has served in the House since 1974.
"I didn't want my name associated with court proceedings at this early stage in my political career," Rubin said.
Copyright (c) 2002, Chicago Tribune
"NOTE: The Libertarian Party received more than 5% of the number of votes cast at the November 2000 General Election in the 39th Representative District. Accordingly, to the extent the boundaries of the 39th Representative District are changed by legislative redistricting, the State Board of Elections will consider the Libertarian Party to be an established party in any representative district which includes any portion of the former 39th Representative District until directed to the contrary by a court of competent jurisdiction."