Wheaton candidate's eligibility still up in the air

The eligibility of a former downtown Wheaton business owner running for city council will soon be in the hands of a special election board.

Attorney Mark Stern told the three-person board at a hearing Wednesday that a provision in the state's municipal code that bars anyone who owes a city money from running for office disqualifies Scott MacKay because MacKay had not paid his property taxes when he filed for the election last month.

But MacKay's attorney Jim Reichardt argued that the money owed by MacKay was owed to the DuPage County Treasurer, not the city of Wheaton. MacKay has since paid his taxes and said after the hearing that he is confident that the board will rule in his favor.

“I trust that the election board will make a decision based on behalf of the people and the voters of DuPage County,” he said.

The attorneys were instructed to file briefs outlining their arguments with the city of Wheaton within the next several days. The election board, which consists of Mayor Mike Gresk, city Clerk Emily Consolazio and the city council's senior member Tom Mouhelis, will then reconvene next Wednesday to pass down its decision.

Stern brought the objection to MacKay's candidacy on behalf of Wheaton resident Kristen Seely last week.

“The issue before us is that the state of Illinois has set forth certain requirements for candidates who wish to seek office,” Stern said in an opening statement. “This is not to say whether the candidate is good or bad, simply whether the candidate has complied with all requirements of the statute.”

Stern hoped to establish that on Nov. 17, the date MacKay filed his petition, MacKay owed money to the city of Wheaton.

However, DuPage County Treasure Gwen Henry testified at the hearing that a past due payment on property taxes is actually owed to the county. But Stern pressed on and said that the law that states a person is ineligible to run if they are “in arrears in the payment of a tax or other indebtedness due” to the city clearly aims to bar candidates who had not paid property taxes.

But Reichardt said that was not the case and said the board should let MacKay appear on the ballot.

“If the legislature wanted to bar anybody who did not pay their property taxes, they could have said that,” he said. “But we are left with whatever work they have done in Springfield. Further, there is a general feeling in the law, as well as in American tradition, that we like to let the voters decide who should be representing them. If anything, this board should err on the side of allowing there to be an election and allowing voters of Wheaton to have their say.”