Candidate says license renewal snafu was his error, nothing more

Robert Nunamaker, a candidate for Fox River Grove village president, admitted Thursday that a state body did not renew his real estate broker's license on the basis that he falsified his renewal application - but he says it was a simple mistake.

And he hopes it won't hurt his chances of securing the highest office in town, which candidates Suzanne Blohm and Paulette Pelletier are also seeking.

The Illinois Department of Financial and Professional Regulation fined Nunamaker $1,000 and refused to renew his real estate license because he was untruthful about whether he completed the continuing education sessions required to keep it, state documents show.

Although documents said Nunamaker misrepresented completing the required continuing education, they did not say how.

A department spokesman said the agency could not comment beyond the written order.

Nunamaker had been a part-time real estate broker since 1973 until the state refused to renew his license last April.

"I said, 'That's fine, because I'm not going to be active anymore,'" said Nunamaker, who did not ask for a hearing.

Although he is no longer a real estate broker, the license allowed him to participate in functions that involved Realtors.

Nunamaker said he was initially exempt from taking the refresher courses because he'd been grandfathered in - he and others who already were qualified were exempt from new rules.

The order makes no mention of that.

But when Nunamaker submitted his renewal forms in 2008, the state "changed that law unbeknownst to me and said, 'We're not going to grandfather people anymore,'" Nunamaker said.

"So I think that was a mistake on my part, that I had been renewing for years under the grandfather clause," Nunamaker said.

Pelletier, who is a real estate agent, has taken those continuing education classes.

"One of the big reasons they make you take continuing ed. is for ethics training. So it doesn't look good," she said.

"I took my salesperson's test at least six years ago. Then it (continuing eduation) was required. We talked about grandfathering. But there wasn't any grandfathering anymore."

Blohm could not be reached for comment.