Objections heard against two-person Dist. 59 slate

A Cook County hearing officer will issue a recommendation in three to five days on whether a pair of candidates should remain on the April 2 ballot in the hotly contested race for Elk Grove Township Elementary District 59 school board.

The objections against Courtney Lang of Arlington Heights and Randy Reid of Elk Grove Village - running as a slate - were filed by Daniel Naumowicz of Elk Grove Village, a fellow school board candidate, and Elk Grove Village resident Bill Christian, who led a petition drive in 2017 to prevent a district borrowing plan.

Hearing Officer Sally Saltzberg listened to arguments from both sides Wednesday.

In their formal written objections, Naumowicz and Christian alleged that some petitions for Lang and Reid failed to list a proper venue of county and state for the election, while some pages provide confusion as to the length of term they are seeking. In addition, Naumowicz took issue with signatures of people who listed their hometowns as "EGV" instead of "Elk Grove Village" and "AH" instead of "Arlington Heights."

"They're asked to fill out for 50 signatures, which means they must do 10 (pages)," Christian told Saltzberg. "If they cannot do 10 correctly following all the procedures and all the technical minutiae of it, I do not believe they are going to be as diligent on the school board, following the small minute details of how my children and grandchildren are going to be educated."

Ed Mullen, an attorney for Lang and Reid, argued the objectors' complaints aren't supported by case law.

"While there are technical mistakes that are made, none of those mistakes rise to the level that any electoral board or court case that I'm aware of has stricken a sheet or a signature for," Mullen said. "I don't see any reason to strike any of the individual signatures or sheets based on the laws that exist today."

Saltzberg said she would issue a written recommendation to the three-member Cook County Officers Electoral Board in the next three to five days. That panel, composed of representatives of the county clerk, state's attorney and clerk of the circuit court, will render a decision.

Other candidates for District 59 board include incumbent Barbara Somogyi and newcomers Lisa Griffin, James Goranson and Patti Petrielli. In all, seven candidates are running for three seats with 4-year terms.