Challenge could leave Buffalo Grove board race uncontested

The race for three seats on the Buffalo Grove village board could wind up uncontested.

Trustee Andrew Stein is challenging the candidacy of the race's only non-incumbent, Jeffrey Battinus, claiming the newcomer failed to provide a mandatory statement of economic interest receipt by the Dec. 26 filing deadline.

Battinus, who lives on the Cook County side of the village, has vowed to fight the challenge. He will have an opportunity to present his case before an electoral board consisting of Village President Jeffrey Braiman, Trustee Jeffrey Berman and Village Clerk Janet Sirabian.

According to Battinus, the hearing is scheduled for 4:30 p.m. on Jan. 7 at village hall.

Stein is one of three incumbents running, along with Lester Ottenheimer III and Beverly Sussman, for three available seats in the April 9 election.

He said he called Battinus on Tuesday and told him he would be facing a challenge, without revealing from whom. He said he urged Battinus to withdraw from the race.

“Today I filed an objection to the petitions of Jeffrey Battinus,” Stein said in a statement Wednesday. “After a review of all the petitions filed by all the potential candidates, something I have always done, I noticed that the statement of economic interest receipt was not filed with Mr. Battinus' petitions. This is a very serious error.

“After much careful consideration I decided that I must take this action to protect the integrity of the election process,” he added. “This is part of the state election statute that was put in place to try and give the voters some assurance that elected officials do not have personal economic interests in the decisions they make for the residents.”

Battinus, a member of the Buffalo Grove Board of Health, said he is having an attorney look into the matter. He said he filed the economic interest statement Jan. 2. “Whether I made a mistake, shame on me,” he said. The challenge, he said, could deprive voters of a choice in the election.

“What Andy is trying to do is take the choice out of the hands of the voters and put it in the hands of the courts,” he said.

Stein called those remarks disingenuous, and said Battinus is trying to shift blame for his own failure.

“When he filed incomplete papers, he deprived the people of the choice,” Stein said.