The Cook County Electoral Board removed from the ballot the name of a long-serving board president of Hazel Crest School District 152 ½ because of a past felony conviction.
In a unanimous decision Friday, the three-member board dropped from the ballot Dean Barnett, a 16 year school board member who also is now serving as board president of the two-school, 1,000-student district. He had been convicted of an "infamous" felony crime — receipt, possession and sale of a stolen vehicle in 1993 when he was 17, officials said.
The electoral board officers cited in their decision the case of Kenneth Williams, the former Thornton Township School District 205 board president who was removed from his seat in 2013 and again in 2014 for a prior felony conviction — in that case, forgery — and then struck from the ballot in 2015 for the same reason.
"The (Williams) cases make it clear that, read together, the School Code and the Election Code bar anyone convicted of an infamous crime from running for a seat on a school board," the board wrote in its decision.
Barnett’s lawyer, James P. Nally, argued at Friday’s hearing that because the section of the Code of Criminal Procedure that defines an infamous crime had been repealed, there was in essence "no definition of an ‘infamous crime’ to determine whether [Barnett] would be fit to hold office on a school board," according to the board’s decision.
The board, however, wrote that Nally’s argument was unpersuasive, and cited numerous past cases in Illinois that broadly defined "infamous crime" as any felony that is "inconsistent with commonly accepted principles of honesty and decency, or involved moral turpitude."
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"The crime of felony receipt, possession and sale of a stolen vehicle for which Candidate has been convicted is an ‘infamous crime’ because it is inconsistent with commonly accepted principles of honesty and decency," the board opined.
Max Solomon, the attorney for Barnett’s objector, was familiar with the board’s ‘infamous crime’ argument, having been part of Williams’ legal team that argued unsuccessfully in 2014 that he should be eligible to hold office despite his felony conviction.
Now, on the other side of things, he relied on the same court decisions that sunk his former client to successfully challenge Barnett’s candidacy.
Solomon said he believes that under the court’s broad definition of "infamous crime," all felony crimes are in fact "infamous," and thus disqualify convicted felons from seeking or holding public municipal office unless they receive a pardon from the governor.
The same is not true, however, for offices created by the Illinois Constitution, including statewide offices like senator and representative. By law, candidates for the state Senate and General Assembly can run for and hold office in Illinois even after being convicted of a felony and serving a prison term.
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"The wisdom of that is another thing to be discussed," Solomon said of the higher standard that lower offices are held to in Illinois, "but as far as current laws are concerned, any category of felony, as far as I see it, would bar a potential candidate from holding public (municipal) office."
Nally declined to discuss his arguments before the court, but said in a statement that Barnett would appeal the electoral board’s decision.
"My client has honorably and respectfully discharged his duties as a member of the Hazel Crest School District 152 ½ school board for the last 16 years. He understands and respects the electoral process, including the Cook County Electoral Board decision that finds his candidacy in jeopardy," the statement reads. "We are currently reviewing the legal options that are available to us, which will include an appeal to the circuit court."
Solomon, who lost an appeal with Williams in 2015 arguing the same issue, said he believes it would be an uphill battle for Barnett to get back on the ballot.
"It’s going to be very tough," he said. "I don’t see how he’s going to be able to overcome the standing law. Essentially, he’ll be going back to the same court to tell them to overrule their own court authority of the past three years."
Despite getting knocked off the ballot and being found ineligible to hold municipal office, Barnett will likely be able to serve out the remainder of his current term, Solomon said.
The state’s attorney’s office could file a quo warranto action challenging Barnett’s right to hold public office, but with just a few months left to serve, that appears unlikely.
"I don’t anticipate [the state’s attorney’s office] doing that because he has two-three more months to serve out for the remainder of his term in office," Solomon said. "I think this is just going to die out, and he’s going to serve out his term and won’t run for office anymore."
The state’s attorney’s office did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
It’s unclear why Barnett, who has been a convicted felon for the entirety of his school board tenure, did not have his candidacy challenged until this election cycle.
Tesha Gray, the resident who challenged Barnett’s candidacy and who also is running for a seat on Hazel Crest’s school board, could not be reached for comment.
Solomon said he didn’t believe the challenge to Barnett was sparked by any recent discovery that he was a felon, but was rather a result of the publicity that Williams’ removal from office in 2013 and again in 2014 received.
"The Kenny Williams case was so huge — it was in the papers, it was in the news, it was in the school district — so I think people were not conscious of this kind of dynamic before the Kenny Williams case," he said.
With more people now aware that felons are barred from holding municipal office in Illinois, community members, especially ones seeking election, are beginning to challenge officeholders with criminal histories, Solomon said.
"The criminal background of such a potential candidate is now fair game," he said. "If anyone…may suspect or have knowledge of someone’s background, they, of course, use it against the person. I think Dean Barnett is just the aftermath of Kenny Williams."
The Board of Elections did not immediately respond to a request for the names of any other candidates running this cycle who are being challenged on the same grounds as Barnett.
zkoeske@tribpub.com
Twitter @ZakKoeske
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