Buffalo Grove will vote on recall this November

A local electoral board cleared the way Thursday night for Buffalo Grove residents to vote on the proposed recall of Trustee Lisa Stone.

All that remains is for the village board to vote Monday on whether to place the matter on the Nov. 2 general election ballot.

The electoral board, consisting of Village President Elliott Hartstein, Village Clerk Janet Sirabian and Trustee Jeffrey Braiman, certified the recall petition submitted by resident David Wells, ruling there are enough valid signatures to put the recall proposal on the ballot.

The board struck 87 of the 92 signatures that Stone found objectionable, but in the end the board ruled there are 2,009 valid signatures, 1,000 more than were required to get the referendum on the ballot. Stone won most of her arguments over duplicate signatures, improper or nonexistent addresses, and signatures that were printed rather than handwritten.

The minimum 1,009 signatures needed represents 33 percent of the average voter turnout of the last two local elections.

"We're certainly very pleased that they ruled in our favor, and that they are going to move ahead and put the ordinance through on Monday," Wells said. "So it appears that we will have a referendum for recall on the ballot. That was our objective."

Adam Moodhe, one of the recall leaders, said, "Challenging less than 100 names on a petition that has twice as many signatures as needed is just playing games with the electoral process and the right of the people to make a choice in November."

Stone objected to Moodhe's characterization, saying she filed to protect the integrity of the process. "First of all, these guys that are on the board, some of them were my mentors in petitioning," she said. "I have petitioned for Jeff Braiman before. A petition has to have an address, and you can't have the same person signing three times."

"I wasn't trying to go after their petitions and say that they shouldn't recall me," she said. "If I were wanting to do that, I would have gone to Lake County and Cook County, and I would have started matching up every voter's registration."

Stone said she was targeted by people like Moodhe who opposed her before the election. "I'm obviously a bit of a watchdog type of a representative, and I think most boards need a watchdog," she said.

Stone and her husband, Gary, sat at one table, while Wells and Moodhe sat next to each other facing the board.

In the audience were a little more than 20 people, including three of Stone's opponents in the 2009 election, Michael Terson, Joanne Johnson and Andrew Stein.

The electoral board was joined on the dais by its special counsel, Richard Martens.

Wells moved to dismiss Stone's objections, saying her petitions did not contain her name, address or reason for objecting, which he says are legally required.

But the board, in the interest of time - it has a deadline of Aug. 16 to get the measure on the ballot - decided not to rule on that, and Wells agreed not to pursue it.

"I wanted us to proceed with the hearing ... because of the short time frame," Hartstein said afterward.

Stone objected to printed signatures on the petitions, but Wells did not challenge, even though, as Hartstein later pointed out, village rules may allow printed signatures if they are in the signer's own hand.