Wheaton council candidate to discover fate Wednesday
A Wheaton City Council candidate's eligibility may come down to a special election panel's interpretation of a law that bars anyone indebted to a city from seeking office in that city.
In a legal brief filed Friday, attorney Mark Stern said the panel should declare former downtown business owner Scott MacKay's candidacy invalid because he had not paid his property taxes on his Gary Court home by Nov. 17, the day he filed his nominating petitions for the city council race.
Stern objected on behalf of Wheaton resident Kristen Seely.
The three-person panel, which consists of Mayor Mike Gresk, City Clerk Emily Consolazio and City Councilman Tom Mouhelis, will announce a decision Wednesday morning, Dec. 15, at city hall, 303 W. Wesley St.
In the brief, Stern said MacKay's failure to pay about $11,000 in property taxes on time violated the statute that says a person “in arrears in the payment of a tax or other indebtedness due to the municipality” cannot run for office.
In response, MacKay's attorney, Jim Reichardt, pointed to a Dec. 8 hearing that included testimony from DuPage County Treasurer Gwen Henry, who said the property taxes are due to the county and not the city.
“In plain English, when asked if the candidate was ever in arrears in a tax due to the municipality, the county treasurer said ‘no,'” Reichardt wrote. “One must wonder what part of ‘no' the objector does not understand. Meaning hardly gets plainer than that.”
On Nov. 18, MacKay's property taxes were sold to a tax investment firm, a standard transaction that happens when taxes are not paid and ensures the county gets its money.
At the hearing, Henry testified that the county acts as collector and distributes the money to government agencies but that the taxes are never actually owed to those agencies.
Stern, however, said the interpretation of the law should include common sense. Stern said a 2007 case that barred a Stickney resident from running for trustee because he owed the village $100 should be looked at as an example.
He said allowing MacKay on the ballot makes no sense because it would indicate the law intends to bar those who owe minor fines and not those who owe property taxes, “a far more significant source of revenue for the municipality and a far more significant liability for taxpayers.”
Meanwhile, MacKay said he is confident the panel will rule in his favor and he is ready to start his campaign.
“I just want to be able to roll up my sleeves and get ready for the campaign,” he said Tuesday. “Obviously, it's taken some time away from getting out there and moving toward the race. I'm ready and I'm anxious to hear their decision.”
If his candidacy is upheld, MacKay will join a field of five other newcomers vying for two at-large seats. The others are Alberta Adamson, Derek Bromstead, Jeanne Ives, Robert Molenhouse and Evelyn Pacino Sanguinetti.