Two Lake candidates survive petition challenges

A Republican candidate for Lake County coroner can stay on the March 2012 primary ballot despite irregularities that prompted the elimination of 35 pages of petition signatures, a panel ruled Tuesday.

Howard Cooper, a Gurnee dentist making his first bid for the job, had enough signatures that weren't rejected by the three-member, local electoral board to stay in the race.

Lake County Board candidate Ted Ramai didn't have Cooper's luck. The 4th District hopeful was booted from the ballot after the electoral board eliminated two of the names on his petition, leaving him one short of the minimum number required by law, County Clerk Willard Helander said.

Mark Stricklin, a Democrat running in the county board's 2nd District, survived a challenge and will stay on the March 20 ballot.

The electoral board that reviewed the cases consisted of Helander, Circuit Court Clerk Sally Coffelt and Assistant State's Attorney Dan Jasica. The group heard testimony at the county government center in Waukegan.

Cooper's petitions had been challenged by Michael Gildea. He accused Cooper of using the title “doctor” on some of the petitions, which violates state election law, Helander said.

Twenty-four pages of signatures were tossed as a result.

Gildea also accused Cooper's campaign team of altering some signature pages, which resulted in 11 sheets being thrown out, Helander said.

The panel rejected Gildea's claim that the mistakes reflected a pattern of fraud, Helander said.

Cooper will face former deputy coroner Steve Newton of Antioch in the GOP primary. Two Democrats, incumbent Artis Yancey of Waukegan and newcomer Thomas A. Rudd of Lake Forest, are running, too.

Ramai, of Wadsworth, was challenged by the other Democrat in the District 4 race, Wadsworth Mayor Glenn J. Ryback.

Several printed names were questioned, Helander said, but only two were ruled invalid. That was enough to remove Ramai from the ballot, however.

“You can't just accept every printed signature,” Helander said.

Stricklin's petitions were challenged by longtime Democratic Party activist Pete Couvall, Helander said.

Couvall had targeted a pair of signatures and said one person signed both. The panel agreed and one was tossed.

Couvall also said Stricklin's petitions didn't specify he was running for the Lake County Board. The panel rejected that claim, citing Stricklin's personal effort to collect signatures and talk about the office he is seeking.

“There was no confusion with the voters,” Helander said.

Stricklin, of Beach Park, will face incumbent Diane Hewitt and fellow challenger Beverly Stackhouse-Mull in the District 2 primary. Both women are from Zion.

Waukegan Township Republican Chairman Dave Pfeifer, a local school board member, is running unopposed in the GOP primary.

Two additional hearings originally planned for Tuesday were not held. Karen Boyd Williams, a Democratic candidate for state's attorney from Mundelein, will stay on the ballot because the challenge against her paperwork was dropped Friday.

Two other Democrats and three Republicans are running for the seat, too.

Also, Republican Sharon Carmody of Waukegan dropped out of the race for the county board's 4th District seat last week, making the objections to her petitions irrelevant.

Republican incumbent Brent C. Paxton of Zion is the lone GOP candidate in that race now, and he will face Ryback in the November 2012 general election.