Bensenville's Geils wins another round in ballot battle

Longtime Bensenville Village President John Geils survived, perhaps only temporarily, another challenge Friday to his re-election bid.

After a marathon village electoral board hearing Thursday ended with a unanimous 3-0 decision to keep Geils on the ballot, lawyers for Geils' opponent were in court Friday hoping to convince a DuPage County judge to kick him off the ballot because the board is biased toward Geils.

However, Circuit Judge Bonnie Wheaton ruled it was too early to decide Geils' fate and it would be easier to remove his name from the ballot later than try and add it to the ballot at a later date. The written ruling from the electoral board has not been released. It's expected early next week, and Wheaton said it's a required piece of evidence when determining whether to keep Geils off the ballot.

Frank Soto, who unsuccessfully challenged Geils in 2001, is running against him again. Soto's supporter, Donald Heim, mounted the challenged to Geils' candidacy, claiming Geils is merely a Bensenville land owner who actually resides in Oak Brook.

Geils argued he has lived in Bensenville for 54 years, but his wife lives in the Oak Brook home. He testified Thursday that he often travels to Wisconsin most Wednesdays through Sundays to oversee reconstruction of a golf resort he owns that was gutted in a 2004 fire.

Heim's attorney, Timothy Martin, said he will refile an appeal to the electoral board's decision next week and will ask the judge to halt any future ballots from carrying Geils' name. He argued the board was made up of Geils sympathizers who publicly questioned the legitimacy of Heim's objection before being named to the electoral board. The board includes a former Schiller Park fire lieutenant who was demoted to firefighter after it was learned he had used a police database to check backgrounds of a Geils opponent in 2005.

Martin also said he will ask the judge next week to overrule the electoral board's decision or have the chief judge empanel a rarely used three-member public electoral board to re-hear the residency case.

Wheaton said she was unprepared Friday to decide Geils' residency claims.

DuPage Election Commission officials said it is possible to remove Geils' name from the ballot at a later date and that if he is removed Geils can then run as a write-in candidate.

Geils was successfully challenged by Soto in the 2001 race. Despite getting booted from the ballot, he waged a successful write-in campaign.