UPDATE: Jan. 3, 3:20 p.m.: The Cook County Electoral Board has assigned hearing officer John Ashensden to consider the objection to District 103 candidate Sharon Anderson’s nominating petitions on Thursday, Jan. 5 at 9 a.m. at the Cook County Administration Building, Pedway Level, 69 W. Washington Blvd., Chicago.
The challenge to the petitions of LTHS board candidate William Cassidy will be heard by Christina Lynch at 12:30 p.m. at the same location.
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The fate of candidacies for two people running for school board positions will be in the hands of a county electoral board, because their nominating petitions are being challenged.
In a bid to avoid a possible change in the ruling majority on the Lyons-Brookfield Elementary School District 103 Board of Education, a Brookfield resident has filed a challenge to the petitions of incumbent Sharon Anderson.
Anderson is aligned with two others who are hoping for a three-person sweep to retake the board majority from a group backed by Lyons Village President Christopher Getty.
A Getty-backed slate won election in 2015 and has made sweeping changes in the district’s administration.
Running with Anderson are Marge Hubacek, a former longtime District 103 administrative assistant, and Shannon Johnson, a second-grade teacher in another school district. The latter two are not facing a challenge.
But Anderson’s paperwork is being challenged by Brookfield resident James Koc, who was elected to and briefly served on the Lyons Public Library Board of Trustees in 2015. He is also listed as a “village staff” member of the steering committee in a draft version of a 2014 Lyons Comprehensive Plan document.
“I’m not sure what the motivation is,” Anderson said of the challenge.
Anderson admitted that of the three people on her slate, she was the one with the fewest signatures, making her prone to a challenge.
“I’m the easiest to pick off,” Anderson said.
According to the challenge filed Dec. 27 with the Cook County Clerk, Koc claims Anderson’s petitions contain less than the minimum 50 valid signatures. He is challenging the validity of 16 signatures Anderson submitted.
He also claims Anderson did not file a Statement of Economic Interests as required by law and improperly identified the office for which she was running.
Cassidy paperwork challenged
in LTHS race
In Lyons Township High School District 204, where there are presently five people vying for four seats on the board, a challenge has been filed against papers filed by Willow Springs resident William Cassidy, who is the only non-incumbent running.
The challenge was filed Dec. 27 by Burr Ridge resident Robert K. Brogan, who claims Cassidy did not file a statement of economic interests in the same year he filed his nominating petitions, as required by law.
Others running for seats on the LTHS school board are incumbents George Dougherty, Jessica McLean, Molly Murphy and President Tom Cushing.
Both Cushing and Brogan are on the executive board of the Legacy Guild, a charity organization started in 2012 to provide college scholarships to District 204 students who have had a parent die.
The Cook County Electoral Board was scheduled to hold a public hearing at the county’s administration building in Chicago to consider the challenges on Jan. 3 at 2 p.m., after the Landmark’s press time.
