Link to stay on 30th District ballot

Embattled state Sen. Terry Link survived a formal challenge to his candidacy and will stay on the Feb. 5 primary ballot, the state elections board decided Friday.

Although the panel ruled 1,660 of the signatures on the veteran lawmaker's petition were invalid, he was left with more than enough to remain a candidate for the 30th Senate District seat, election officials said.

Link's challenger in the Senate race, Jerry Johnson, wasn't as lucky. Johnson, a former North Chicago mayor who'd formally objected to Link's petition, was removed from the ballot because of invalid signatures on his own petition.

Three Link supporters had challenged Johnson's petition.

Link, who also leads Lake County's Democratic organization, said his victory Friday feels good.

"I'm very happy that …. I am on the ballot and Mr. Johnson is not," said Link, of Waukegan.

Johnson accepted being kicked off the ballot but said he is considering appealing the panel's decision in the Link case.

"Terry Link's ability to be on the ballot was upheld today. That does not make him right," said Johnson, of North Chicago.

The election board's ruling doesn't end the controversy surrounding Link's candidacy.

The Lake County state's attorney's office is investigating several complaints about the senator's petition. Critics have said the document contains the names of dead people and area residents who've denied signing the form.

Additionally, some signatures on the sheets are in alphabetical order, which is unusual for campaign petitions, state's attorney Michael Waller said.

Link has said he did not circulate any of his candidate petition forms. Records indicate campaign workers and volunteers did.

Petitions circulated by two campaign workers particularly have come under fire, officials said. Because the workers also gathered signatures for other Democratic candidates in Lake County, the state's attorney's office is investigating those political petitions as well, Waller said.

The complaints prompted picketing at Link's house and a Democratic Party office in Waukegan on Thursday, and criticism from Democrats and Republicans.

Link declined to comment on Waller's investigation, saying the state's attorney hasn't contacted him about it.

Friday's separate decisions in the Link and Johnson cases followed several hearings before election-board representatives.

In the Link case, the board ruled 5-3 the senator should remain on the ballot. The panel said he had 1,718 legitimate signatures, far more than the 1,000 required to appear on the ballot, elections board Executive Director Dan White said.

As for Johnson, the panel ruled 8-0 that he should be removed from the ballot. It eliminated 673 signatures, leaving him with no more than 841, White said.

Johnson has said he might run as a write-in candidate in February or as an independent in November's general election.

Most of the 30th District is in eastern Lake County, but it also includes a small part of northern Cook County.

No Republicans filed to appear on the primary ballot in the Senate race.