Petition challenge filed in House race

A candidate for state representative in the Republican primary is calling a challenge to his nominating petitions "obvious political games."

Michael Bowler is seeking the GOP's nod to replace outgoing Naperville state Rep. Joe Dunn in the 96th District. He is squaring off against Naperville City Council member Darlene Senger in the Feb. 5 primary.

Bowler was notified of the objection Monday, the last day to challenge a candidacy.

Naperville resident Paula Dulli is named as the objector. She is represented by Kevin Lynch, one of Senger's campaign managers.

Dulli is also the campaign manager for Doug Krause, another Naperville City Council member who is running as a Republican in the 48th District state representative primary against Dave Carlin and Michael Connelly. No objections were filed in that race.

"There were not a significant number of signatures and many of the signatures he (Bowler) had were defective, which is why we filed the objection," Lynch said. "We are all trying to play by the rules."

The objection states that some of the 669 signatures on Bowler's petitions are either illegible, from people who live outside the district, or don't correspond with accurate addresses. Lynch said more than 170 of the signatures are faulty, which would leave Bowler's papers with fewer than the 500 signatures required for a place on the primary ballot.

Senger had more than 1,300 signatures on her petitions. She said she endorsed the objection.

"Look, this is obviously political games and we were expecting it when she pulled our petitions," Bowler said. "People can object to it, that's their right. I feel very confident that we'll be fine and get through this challenge. This is an unfortunate waste of time and funds."

Lynch said they also challenged Michael Wisniewski's petitions, but the Will County Board member has dropped out of the race and the objection is now moot.

Lynch said Senger's camp also pulled Democratic candidate Dianne McGuire's petitions, but they did not find any reason to challenge her candidacy.

McGuire, a former teachers union president in Naperville Unit District 203, is running unopposed in the Democratic primary and will face the Republican winner in November.

State Board of Elections legal counsel Steve Sandvoss said the board will meet Monday to discuss challenges and the objection may be assigned to a hearing officer then. He expects the hearing to be held and a decision rendered before Dec. 6, when ballot certification is due.