Homer Glen Village Board race finalized with 9 candidates for 3 trustee positions

An initial field of 17 candidates for Homer Glen trustee has been reduced to nine after the five remaining objections were withdrawn Tuesday.

Objections were filed to nominating petitions for 15 of the 17 interested candidates who filed to run for three trustee positions.

Pericles Abbasi, an attorney to Craig Carlson who objected to 14 of those petitions, withdrew the five outstanding objections to petitions from Ruben L. Pazmino, Kevin Koukol, John Hayes, Katie Surges and Kyle Surges. Because their objections were removed, they will appear on the April 1 ballot.

Carlson objected to their papers because he saw that some voters signed four or more of the candidates’ nominating petitions. Under the election code, voters are only allowed to sign petition papers for as many seats that are available. Since the terms for three trustees end in the spring, voters can sign only three petition papers.

Abbasi said their nominating papers were all notarized on the same date. He said it would be difficult to prove in which order residents signed the candidates’ papers. Even if the signers were brought before the Electoral Board to testify, they wouldn’t likely remember the first three nominating petitions they signed, Abbasi said.

Abbasi said the duplicate signatures could be divvied up among the five candidates, leaving everyone with enough signatures to remain on the ballot.

Carlson said he is glad the election hearings are over and the village can move forward with nine candidates for trustee on April 1. Because there are fewer than 13 candidates on the ballot, there will not be a primary in February for the Homer Glen municipal race.

Carlson said he felt there was an organized group who were trying to make a mockery of the election process by forcing a primary. He said he believed the candidates were trying to disrupt the system and were not serious because good friends and spouses filed to run for the same three positions. He said he hopes the village can move forward in a manner that respects the democratic process.

“It’s nobody’s fault, except their own, that several of these candidates did not follow the rules,” Carlson said. “Nobody is above the rules and regulations set forth in the state laws.”

The Electoral Board has been listening to challenges for more than a month.

The nominating petitions for incumbent Rose Reynders and candidate Michael LePore were the only ones not challenged.

Mayor Christina Neitzke-Troike said the Electoral Board listened to each case objectively and took into account state election law when ruling on the petitions.

“Some people confuse the Electoral Board’s responsibilities with what they like to call power,” she said. “As mayor and chair of the Electoral Board, I have and will continue to uphold the law and not play favorites.”

The Electoral Board ruled last month that both Nicholas S. Muller and Richard J. Modelski had enough valid signatures even if the signatures in question were stricken, so they will appear on the ballot.

The board previously removed eight candidates from the ballot, including incumbent Trustee Jennifer Trzos-Consolino, John Walters, Theresa “Tammy” Hayes and James “Jay” Roti because they also filed for a school board race. Under state law, village trustee and school board member are considered incompatible offices, the board ruled.

The board removed Daniel Gutierrez for an insufficient number of signatures. Both Cesar E. Marin and Ethan D. Fialko were removed because they did not include their correct home addresses on their petitions.

Heidi “Hadley” Pacella was removed earlier this month because using “Hadley” was an improper nickname that drew attention to her advocacy efforts to preserve Hadley Road from a Will County widening project, the board ruled. Election code does not allow someone to use a moniker that may be considered a political slogan.

Carlson also objected to Pacella’s residency and whether she lived in Homer Glen for a year prior to a potential February primary. While she was previously stricken from the ballot, the board was required to issue a finding on any still pending objections, the board’s attorney Michael Carroll said.

The board Tuesday questioned when Pacella moved to Homer Glen from Orland Park by taking into consideration when she updated her driver’s license and where her children attended school but did not come to a consensus.

Neitzke-Troike said she believed Pacella did not prove residency. Clerk Candice Bielski abstained from voting and Trustee Sue Steilen said she would give Pacella the benefit of the doubt of having lived in Homer Glen for a full year.

Michelle Mullins is a freelance reporter for the Daily Southtown.