State senate hopeful bounced from ballot again
The Illinois Supreme Court likely will be the final arbiter of Democratic state Senate hopeful Tom Cullerton's fate.
The would-be challenger to longtime Roselle Republican state Sen. Carole Pankau was kicked off the ballot - again - by a three-judge appeals court ruling Friday.
Cullerton said is taking his case to the state's highest court.
"We take it to the next level," he said. "There was a judge that ruled for me and now it's gone back and forth, so we'll continue the fight."
But time may become an issue. The state election board certifies all ballots for the November election by Aug. 29.
Cullerton's attorneys are waiting for a written opinion from the appeals court before they can petition the state's Supreme Court to ask whether they will even take on the case. There is no deadline for the appelate court opinion, court officials said.
"It would be our desire to have the written opinion from the appeals court, but the order just says it will come in 'due course,'" said Cullerton attorney Courtney Nottage.
Doreen Nelson, DuPage County Election Commission assistant executive director, said they would postpone printing the ballots if the supreme court were to take action.
Cullerton's legal saga began when he pulled a Republican primary ballot in February and then was slated to be a Deomcratic candidate in March. Republicans argued Cullerton couldn't vote as a member of one party and then run as a candidate for another party. They also argued his candidacy paperwork was incomplete because it didn't include the date the nominating committee met to pick Cullerton.
The county's electoral board sided with Republicans and kicked him off the ballot in May by a 2-1 vote, but a DuPage County associate circuit court judge overturned that decision last month. The appeals court ruling nullifies the judge's decision and reinstates the electoral board's position.
"It should have gone for me in the circuit court," said Burt Odelson, the Republicans' attorney. "They told me they were going to the Supreme Court with this and I hope they will, but I won't believe it until I see it."