Milton political spat to plaintiff
A DuPage County judge ruled Thursday that political consultant Rod McCulloch is responsible for a series of events that rendered former Milton Township Assessor Jim Gumm unable to run for re-election in 2005.
The ruling by Circuit Judge Dorothy French came in a civil lawsuit Gumm filed seeking damages against McCulloch for being denied his constitutional right to run for election.
A separate, but related, criminal case is set for trial in February. McCulloch stands charged with felony election fraud in that case. The civil court ruling has no impact on establishing innocence or guilt in the criminal case.
French's ruling was based on a procedural failure by McCulloch and his attorneys to respond to a set of alleged facts Gumm's attorney, Ted Donner, wanted taken out of dispute.
McCulloch said in an interview that he never received Donner's request and, as a result, never had a chance to respond.
Donner said McCulloch had six months to respond, but chose not to. French sided with Donner in ruling for Gumm.
McCulloch's attorney James Maher released a written statement saying French's ruling was flawed and McCulloch may seek an appeal.
"Mr. McCulloch vigorously disputes each and every allegation in the suit and believes there is not one shred of evidence to support any of these bogus allegations," Maher wrote.
Maher wrote that McCulloch did everything legally and morally to help Gumm in his campaign. Gumm made a bad choice to drop out of the race.
"He wants others to pay for his bad decision," Maher wrote. "It is no wonder that the Milton Township Republican Party dumped him."
Donner said the help McCulloch provided was petitions filled with forged signatures, leaving Gumm no choice but to end his campaign.
"He would've been trying to get himself on the ballot from a lie," Donner said.
French's ruling established liability, but not damages. Discovery on that issue will end in February. Any award of damages would follow.
"The only question now is what is Jim Gumm entitled to," Donner said.