State Senate hopeful knocked off ballot, vows appeal

Republicans may have one less DuPage County Democrat to worry about in November.

The county's three-member electoral board voted 2-1 Tuesday to remove a state Senate hopeful from the ballot, but the candidate vows to fight the decision.

GOP officials charge Tom Cullerton is an elephant in donkey's clothing. They say he voted Republican in the February primary but was then slated as a Democrat two months later to run against Republican state Sen. Carole Pankau. The board ruled he couldn't do that.

"I'm still going to run," a defiant Cullerton said afterward. "I am the Democratic candidate."

Cullerton's attorneys argue the electoral board's interpretation of state law on party switching doesn't apply to their client because he wasn't a candidate when he voted in February.

But the board agreed with Republicans who cited a 1974 Illinois Supreme Court decision on party switching that declares "standards governing party changes by candidates may and should be more restrictive than those relating to voters."

Burt Odelson fought Cullerton's candidacy on behalf of the Republicans.

"If it walks like a duck and it quacks like a duck, it's a duck," he said. "If someone pulls a Republican ballot and votes Republican, they're a Republican."

The board also ruled that the language in Cullerton's official nominating resolution was confusing and implied he was nominated at a date before the one listed.

DuPage Democratic Party Chairman Bob Peickert said he wasn't surprised by the electoral board's decision since it is "controlled by Republicans."

"I don't know how it couldn't be clear," he said. "It's one of those Republican mysteries. They make a ruling then they don't tell you why."

The electoral board is made up of two Republicans and one Democrat. The Republicans -- Rick Carney and Charlotte Mushow -- voted to reject Cullerton's candidacy. Democrat board member Jeanne McNamara voted in favor of Cullerton.

Peickert accused the electoral board of playing party tricks in the past when they allowed Republican county board member Grant Eckhoff to remain on the February ballot despite writing the wrong date for the primary on his candidacy papers. But they removed Democratic challenger Michael Braun because he had the wrong number of years for the term he was seeking listed in his paperwork.

Cullerton's lawyers said they'll file the appeal in circuit court in a few weeks.