In action taken yesterday afternoon, the Cook County Officers Electoral Board sustained objections to the nominating petitions of 21st Ward Ald. Howard B. Brookins, Jr. in case no. 17 COEB JUD 60.
This action followed the Board's February 1 decision, in case no. 17 COEB JUD 61, that sustained a separate set of objections to Brookins' nominating petitions.
Pending any possible contrary court decision, Brookins is no longer a candidate for the Valarie Turner vacancy in the 2nd Subcircuit.
Also on February 1, the Electoral Board sustained objections to the petitions of Nyshana Kali Sumner. With both Sumner and Brookins off the ballot, the only two candidates left for that vacancy are Arthur Wesley Willis and former Judge Devlin Schoop.
Yesterday, the Electoral Board also overruled objections to the nominating petitions of 10th Subcircuit Candidate Noreen Patricia Connolly (Suriano vacancy). Five candidates remain in that race after ballot challenges. Colleen Reardon Daly, the Democratic Party's endorsed candidate, and Judge Gerald Cleary face opposition from Connolly, Jill Rose Quinn, and Thomas J. Gabryszewski.
But let's return to the Brookins cases.
Like any subcircuit candidate, Brookins needed 1,000 valid signatures to qualify for the ballot.
In case number 17 COEB JUD 61, the hearing officer found that Brookins filed petitions containing 3,577 signatures. But the objectors in that case, Hobson and Veals, made objections to 3,129 of those signatures and 2,828 of these were sustained -- leaving Brookins, by this reckoning, with only 749 valid signatures.
In case number 17 COEB JUD 60, the hearing officer found that Brookins' petitions contained 3,576 signatures. The decision does not specify how many total signatures were challenged by the objector (in this case, Marjan) but 2,974 of these objections were sustained -- leaving Brookins with only 602 signatures deemed valid.
One lesson to be drawn from this is that the evaluation of petition signatures is more art than science. But I think there are some other lessons here, and I hope to turn to these in a future post.
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Note: I again acknowledge the host of comments that I didn't publish regarding Brookins' fate. A great many predicted -- correctly, as it turns out -- the disposition of these challenges. One of these provided the exact numbers found in one of these cases. (On the other hand, one anonymous accused me of 'suppressing' the news in re Brookins -- and of being 'bought' by Mayor Emanuel. I have no idea what the mayor has to do with any of this... but, then, I'm no politician.)
2 hours ago
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5 comments:
The Mayor could care less about any race for judge. He has way bigger problems with his own reelection, assuming he still wants the job. Only the sandwich board guy outside the Daley Center protesting his daily molestation by the FBI believes that the mayor cares about judges.
In case 17 COEB JUD 60 they used some new software for reviewing petitions that automated the process of finding duplicates and signers outside the subcircuit. So maybe it's actually more science than art!
Jack,
When we are less than 50 days to the "big day" the nuts and crackpots come even more unhinged. Thanks for your stellar efforts and exercising the discretion about what and WHEN to post. Nothing worse than making a premature post that needs to be retracted later. I look forward to your future post about "lessons learned in 2018."
And then there were two!
And the Circuit Court just tossed out his lawsuit and ordered that Brookins' name not be printed on any ballots for the March primary.
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