DuPage board hopeful removed from primary ballot
Joseph M. “Joe” Wozniak’s bid to become a DuPage County Board member came to an end Wednesday when dozens of signatures on his nominating petition were deemed invalid by the county’s electoral board.
Meanwhile, two other county board hopefuls survived challenges of their paperwork and will remain on the March 20 ballot.
Wozniak, of Naperville, was seeking the Republican nomination for one of three District 3 seats on the county board. However, his name was removed from the primary ballot after DuPage’s electoral board disqualified 55 of the 226 signatures on his nominating petition for various legal reasons. Republican county board candidates need at least 189 signatures to appear on the ballot.
“I put my faith in the election board and believe they did a pretty good job,” the 69-year-old Wozniak said after Wednesday’s hearing. “I’m just sorry it worked out the way it did. Unfortunately, a lot of the people printed their name (on the petition) when they should have signed it.”
Wozniak’s paperwork was challenged by an associate of Burr Ridge Mayor Gary Grasso, who is one of the five Republicans remaining in the race for three District 3 seats. The other GOP candidates are incumbents Brian Krajewski and John Curran and challengers Greg Abbott of Woodridge and retired DuPage Judge Ken Moy of Hinsdale.
District 3 includes all or parts of Bolingbrook, Burr Ridge, Clarendon Hills, Darien, Downers Grove, Hinsdale, Lemont, Naperville, Westmont, Willowbrook and Woodridge.
In the District 1 county board race, Thomas Michael Castillo was unable to get fellow Democrat Maria DeAngelis-Vesey knocked off the primary ballot.
The county electoral board rejected Castillo’s claim that DeAngelis-Vesey’s nominating paperwork was invalid. Panel members ruled that mistakes on DeAngelis-Vesey’s statement of candidacy aren’t “fatal defects.”
As a result, Castillo of Elmhurst, DeAngelis-Vesey of Elmhurst and incumbent board member Rita Gonzalez of Addison are expected to run in the general election for three District 1 seats on the county board. The trio of Democrats would face incumbent board members Paul Fichtner and Don Puchalski and newcomer Sam Tornatore — the three Republicans vying for those spots.
However, Castillo said he questions whether he and his Democratic colleagues can defeat all three GOP candidates in District 1, which includes all or portions of Addison, Bensenville, Bloomingdale, Elmhurst, Glendale Heights, Itasca, Lombard, Roselle, Villa Park and Wood Dale.
In fact, Castillo said he’s planning to quit the race if DeAngelis-Vesey and Gonzalez each get more votes than he does during the uncontested Democratic primary.
“I am going to do everything in my power to make sure we only have two Democrats — and that includes dropping myself off the ballot,” he said. “We’re not going to get three Democrats elected in one district.”
Also on Wednesday, the electoral board rejected Gerald J. Marchese’s effort to have fellow Wayne resident Tom Sutton removed from the ballot. Sutton is seeking the GOP nomination for county board District 6 along with incumbents Jim Zay and Robert Larsen and newcomers David J. Sabathne of West Chicago and Kevin Wiley of West Chicago.
District 6 includes all or portions of Aurora, Bartlett, Bloomingdale, Carol Stream, Glendale Heights, Hanover Park, Naperville, Roselle, St. Charles, Warrenville, Wayne, West Chicago, Wheaton and Winfield.