Democrat challenge has Greens seeing red

Article in the Oak Park Oak Leaves by CHERI BENTRUP on August 2, 2006.

Democrat challenge has Greens seeing red
Oak Park Oak Leaves

BY CHERI BENTRUP | STAFF WRITER
cbentrup@pioneerlocal.com

Oak Park resident Julie Samuels is trying to get on the ballot in her race for Illinois lieutenant governor this fall, but the Democratic Party is making it difficult.

Samuels said the Green Party collected 33,000 signatures from across the state to get the Green slate on the November ballot. However, the Democratic Party is challenging 24,000 of those signatures.

"We submitted those signatures and within a few hours after submitting them, the Democrats had challenged them," Samuels said. "We went to the (state) Board of Elections and objected."

Samuels said party loyalists are now working to prove the signatures collected are authentic, a process she said is costing taxpayers a lot of money.

"We've been able to overturn about 60 percent of the objections," Samuels said Thursday of the Chicago signatures. "This was motivated to keep us off the ballot. They don't want any challenge, they don't want a dialogue. They don't want the public to know there's a different way of thinking."

Steve Brown, press secretary for the Illinois Democratic Party, said the party is challenging the signatures because they're concerned about their legitimacy.

"We believe whoever wants to be a candidate for office needs to play by the rules," Brown said.

Samuels is running on a ticket with Rich Whitney as the gubernatorial candidate.

"Rich Whitney is an extraordinary man. He's a civil rights attorney," Samuels said of her running mate. "Mr. Blagojevich is a very weak candidate. What Mr. Blagojevich has done (as governor), is very little. He's not the environmental candidate, he's not a small business governor. He's not a Democratic governor in any sense."

Samuels suspects the Democrats' challenge to the signatures was done to protect Blagojevich.

"They're (the Democrats) afraid if there's a third person running they'd pull enough votes from the Democrats to allow (Republican gubernatorial candidate Judy Baar) Topinka to win," Samuels said. "Topinka helped us save the Green Line (el). That makes me think she understands public transportation, natural resources. In a lot of ways she's a strong candidate and she's reasonable. If we're not on the ballot, I'll probably vote for her."

Brown said the signature challenge has nothing to do with the ultimate outcome of the election. He said the Democratic Party makes sure its signatures are legitimate, and expects the same of other candidates.

"It's really just play by the rules," Brown said.

Samuels said she thinks the Greens have a good shot at getting on the ballot, but she's not sure when she'll know that for sure. Her campaign manager and husband Bruce Samuels said the Board of Elections has to make a decision by Oct. 31, a week before the election. He claims the Democrats also are worried that the Illinois Green Party is establishing a successful process to defeat signature challenges which could be used throughout the country on future elections.

"We're making good headway, but it's overwhelming. We want every voter in Illinois to be able to pick up a ballot that says Green Party. We want to be in places to have conversations with people. We want to be invited (to election-related events). Every step of the way this a fight to be accepted as a legitimate contender," Samuels said. "We want to win. We'll work to win."

At the least, Samuels wants to establish the Green Party as a third political party in Illinois. To do so, she and Whitney need 5 percent of the state's votes, about 200,000 in the upcoming election, Bruce Samuels said.

"Once we're an official party we can have election judges," Julie Samuels said. "My goal has always been to build toward the future. Unless we open up this democracy, we're all in a lot of trouble."

To help with the Green Party campaign, call Samuels at (708) 524-0909.