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Objections mar village elections
Franklin Park village president Juan Acevedo (right) survived a challenge to his candidacy at a hearing Jan. 9. Kim Farkas (left), a village clerk candidate, had a hearing challenging her candidacy postponed. | Mark Lawton~Sun-Times Media
Updated: February 19, 2013 11:55AM
FRANKLIN PARK — A tardy lawyer means a candidate for village president will remain on the ballot.
Juan Acevedo is one of three candidates running for village president in Franklin Park. Resident Andrzej Andruszkiewicz filed an objection, arguing Acevedo’s candidacy should be disallowed because Acevedo did not include in a statement of economic interest the name of the village — Franklin Park — he is running in.
At a hearing Jan. 9 to hear the objection, Mathew Welch, the attorney running the proceedings, called out three times for Andruszkiewicz or someone representing him.
Neither Andruszkiewicz nor a representative, however, was present.
“What happens in these cases is the complaint is dismissed,” Welch said.
The three-person electoral board agreed and dismissed the objection.
A couple minutes later Russ Stewart, a Park Ridge based-attorney representing Andruszkiewicz, arrived.
Two other hearings were continued Jan. 14. One was to hear another objection by Andruszkiewicz against Kim Farkas, a candidate for village clerk. The attorneys for Farkas and Andruszkiewicz both filed a motion asking that Barrett Pedersen be dismissed from the three-member electoral board hearing the objection.
Pedersen is a member of Your Village Your Voice political party. So is Farkas’ competitor, Tommy Thomson.
The electoral board voted to retain Pedersen. Both attorneys made arguments. The electoral board will consider the objections and announce its decision at 1 p.m. Jan. 21 at Franklin Park Village Hall.
Franklin Park resident Ken Zurek also filed multiple objections against all six candidates from the Your Village Your Voice party.
At the Jan. 9 hearing, Zurek filed a motion to dismiss Cheryl McLean from the three-member electoral board hearing the objection.
McLean’s seat as village trustee is not up for election in April. She did, however, run with Your Village Your Voice political party in the election two years ago.
The electoral board voted to keep McLean. The board for that objection is composed of McLean and two public members who are attorneys and were appointed by the chief judge of Cook County Circuit Court.
The board made it through roughly half of Zurek’s objections on Jan. 14. Those include allegations that some candidates owe money to the village government and an argument that trustee candidate Andy Ybarra’s role as a library trustee makes him ineligible to run.
