Dennis, other Greens removed from ballot
http://www.pantagraph.com/articles/2008/06/09/news/doc484dbbdab7e86793490814.txt
By Kenneth Lowe
Kenneth.lowe@lee.net
SPRINGFIELD -- Four Green Party candidates running for Congress were
booted off the ballot by state election officials Monday.
Troy Dennis of Mount Zion, the Green Party candidate in the 17th
Congressional District, was among those removed from the November
ballot. The other three were Iain Abernathy of Round Lake Beach in the
8th district, David Kalbfleisch of Arlington Heights in the 10th and
Robert Hill of DeKalb in the 14th district.
The four candidates did not run in the primary, but were slated by the
Green Party — a process which objectors claim was not handled properly.
Maurice Doyle, a Democratic precinct committeeman in Macon County,
objected to Dennis’ campaign, alleging that the Green Party did not
slate their candidates using proper party officials.
The other objectors, all members of the Democratic Party, made similar
allegations against the other three candidates.
Attorney Mike Kasper represented Doyle.
“In all four of these cases, the people who purported to nominate
someone to run in November were not the proper party officials,” said
Kasper.
Speaking after the ruling, Dennis said the Democratic Party targeted the
candidates.
“This was really run by the Democratic machine,” Dennis said. “This
wasn’t a concerned citizen. This was actually the Democratic machine
really coming after four different Green Party candidates.”
Steve Brown, spokesman for Democratic Party Chairman Mike Madigan, said
established parties should be expected to follow election laws.
“If Illinois has a set of election laws, we expect the Democrats and
Republicans and anyone else who wants to be a candidate to obey those
laws,” Brown said. “Usually this group whines every year when they fail
to follow the law and get tossed off the ballot.”
The four candidates have the option of appealing the decision in the
courts. Dennis said he will consider doing so, and failing that, will
sign up as a write-in candidate in the 23 counties in the 17th district,
which stretches from the Quad-Cities to Decatur.
Scott Summers, attorney for the candidates and himself the Green Party
candidate for the 16th District, said despite this setback, the Green
Party remains a strong presence in the November election.
“We remain a very good choice for the voters come November,” Summers
said. “For a new party coming straight out of the blocks we’ve got a
good presence.”
The ruling does not affect candidates such as Jason Wallace of Normal,
who is running in the 11th district, or Vic Roberts who is running in
the 19th Congressional District.
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