Aurora campaign money referendum knocked off ballot

Aurora residents won’t get to vote on whether they want limits on campaign donations to city officials after all.

On Monday, the Aurora Municipal Officers Electoral Board removed an advisory question on the issue from the April 1 ballot.

The nonbinding referendum would have asked the city council to adopt regulations prohibiting elected officials or candidates from receiving more than $1,000 annually in contributions from any corporation, organization or person who has, or is seeking, a city contract; establishment or benefit from a tax increment financing district; or any official act.

The electoral board ruled the petition did not have enough signatures. It needed 2,957 and had 2,044, said John Fogarty, the attorney for Alderman Patty Smith, who filed the objection.

The petition to put the question on the ballot was filed on Dec. 30 by Alderman-At-Large John Laesch, who is running for mayor.

Smith supports the candidacy of Mayor Richard Irvin and is a critic of Laesch.

The electoral board consisted of Irvin, Alderman Juany Garza and City Clerk Jennifer Stallings.

In addition to arguing the petition lacked the required number of signatures, Fogarty said that the question was improperly phrased and questioned the intentions of its supporters.

“This question is not a serious question. This question is a sham question,” Fogarty said. “This question is written as a solution seeking a problem.”

Irvin said essentially the same thing when the petition was filed. “Why create a new law to fix a problem that doesn’t exist?” Irvin said.

Laesch did not attend the hearing. He said on Facebook that he would not challenge the objection, choosing not to spend the time or money to do so.

Laesch and Irvin are two of the six mayoral candidates in the Feb. 25 primary. The others are Alderman Ted Mesiacos, Jazmine Garcia, Karina Garcia and former alderman Judd Lofchie.