Dundee Twp. races gearing up for April election

There's a just over a month to go until the April 7 consolidated election and the ballots for Dundee Township races are set.

It took some villages longer than others to finalize the ballot - you know who you are - but voters this year will have choices. That has not always been the case in local elections past.

It seems Sleepy Hollow is the most uncontroversial of the towns, with uncontested races for village president and trustee.

West Dundee Village President Larry Keller will be the only name printed on the ballot, but local resident Michael Elmore has entered the race as a write-in candidate. He was tossed off the ballot last month for failing to number the pages on his petition, which the village's electoral board deemed sufficient to have Elmore's name struck off the ballot.

In the race for trustees, the incumbents face two residents who have been vocal in the fight against Wal-Mart.

Incumbents Norm Osth and Patrick Hanley are looking to retain their seats for another four years and will face challengers Lisa Geisler, Steve Geati and Julie Voss. Joseph Motyl will not seek election to the seat he currently occupies as an appointed trustee.

East Dundee's ballot sees two vying for the spot of village president, while the four candidates are fighting for three spots on the village board. Trustee Rob Gorman is the only incumbent seeking re-election, while trustees Kathleen Mahony and Jim Carlini will not.

Carlini was at one time in the race for village president with current President Dan O'Leary and former mayor Jerry Bartels. But Carlini is now focusing his time on becoming the next director of QuadCom.

The other trustee candidates are Lael Miller, Kathy Kalish, and Paul Van Ostenbridge. A pair of hopefuls were thrown off the ballot, but have said they will challenge that ruling.

The Carpentersville ballot is chock-full of challengers and incumbents. All village board incumbents - Village President Bill Sarto, trustees Kay Teeter and Linda Ramirez-Sliwinski - will appear on the ballot. So will Ed Ritter, but this time, his name will appear in the village president candidate column.

Only one candidate objection was successful. A medium-sized paper clip stood between Kent Baldwin and a chance to run for village government. The 11 other objections were thrown out after various electoral board hearings.

Ramirez-Sliwinski was able to get her name back on the ballot with some help from affidavits and other documents after initially being removed for not having the minimum number of signatures on her petition. But the trustee was able to prove that many of her signatures were legitimate despite protestation from Trustee Judy Sigwalt, a member of the village's electoral board.

The hearing for Ramirez-Sliwinski was another example of why the electoral board system in Carpentersville needs change. Clearly Sigwalt wanted to have her opponent's name struck from the ballot - she was arguing an affidavit was not good enough evidence to declare a person's signature eligible.

It's an affidavit, which by definition is a sworn statement of fact. An affidavit cannot be signed by anyone. Lying on an affidavit is like lying in court; it would be considered perjury.