Green Party supporters under fire

Article in the Rockford Register Star by Aaron Chambers on July 31, 2006.

Green Party supporters under fire

By Aaron Chambers
ROCKFORD REGISTER STAR SPRINGFIELD BUREAU
 

SPRINGFIELD — Jack and Colleen Holmbeck are solid Democrats.

But when Belvidere attorney David Black asked them to support his Green Party bid for Illinois attorney general, the retired Rockford couple happily got behind him.

“He has every right to try and get on the ballot,” Colleen said. “He’s a very nice man.”
 
Now the signatures they applied to Black’s nominating petition are at the center of a fight over whether Green Party candidates for statewide office deserve a place on the Nov. 7 general election ballot.

Democrats, the folks the Holmbecks claim allegiance to but potentially have the most to lose to Green candidates, are trying to prove that thousands of the Green signatures are invalid.

At the State Board of Elections facility a few blocks south of the Capitol, staff for the Democrats and the Greens sit together and compare signatures on nominating petitions to voting registration records.

The Green Party filed 39,462 signatures in support of its slate, according to the State Board of Elections. It needs 25,000 valid signatures to get on the ballot, so the Democrats must kill at least 14,463 signatures — by showing that an individual’s signature or address doesn’t match voter registration files — to keep them off.

Deciding whom to support in an election is often a personal decision, as was the case with the Holmbecks’ support of Black. But there’s nothing personal about objecting to individual signatures in an effort to prevent an opponent from appearing on the ballot: It’s about winning.

Gov. Rod Blagojevich, a Democrat running for re-election, would appear to have the most to lose if Rich Whitney, the left-leaning Green candidate for governor, gets on the ballot. But Whitney also might siphon votes from state Treasurer Judy Baar Topinka, the Republican candidate for governor who has actively courted social liberals.

Blagojevich and Topinka support civil unions — but not marriage — for gays and abortion rights.

The Democrats said their challenge to Green Party signatures is a routine political matter.

“We believe that everybody ought to play by the rules,” said Steve Brown, spokesman for House Speaker Michael Madigan of Chicago, who is chairman of the Illinois Democratic Party.

Brown said the challenge “really was waged” by Blagojevich’s campaign, and he deferred further comment to the governor’s organization. Blagojevich spokeswoman Sheila Nix said the campaign is not particularly concerned about losing votes to a Green Party candidate.

“The goal is just to make sure that any party that is on the ballot actually has complied with the rules and had enough valid signatures,” Nix said.

“So if they do, great. And if they don’t, then they shouldn’t be on the ballot.”

Colleen Holmbeck was appalled when she heard that Democrats objected to her and her husband’s signatures.

“We’ve lived in the same house for 35 years. We’ve been Democrats for 35 years. We always vote. There has never been a time that we haven’t voted,” she said. “It’s carelessness on their part. We are amazed, absolutely amazed that they would question us.”

Jack, 72, and Colleen, 71, are civic leaders in Rockford. They recently donated $1 million to United Way’s endowment.

The task of examining the Green Party signatures is expected to last through Thursday, then the case goes to a State Board of Elections hearing officer. Black said the Democrats objected to about 25,000 of the party’s 39,462 signatures.

Mickey Gillespie, chief investigator at the board, said the ballot must be certified by Sept. 1, but there have in the past been exceptions because of a court order.

Meanwhile, Republicans objected to nominating petitions filed by Constitution Party and Independence Party candidates. These challenges also are ongoing.

Black, a 58-year-old attorney who represents autoworkers, said he’s running for attorney general simply because he’s part of a team that represents change from politics as usual.

“I believe that we’ve had politics as usual for too long, and people do need and deserve the right to vote for somebody besides the Democrats and Republicans,” he said.

“You know how many of the former governors have ended up in jail for political corruption — Democrats and Republicans. I just feel that we need a change and that people shouldn’t have to go in (to the voting booth) and find the same two parties.”

Staff writer Aaron Chambers may be reached at 217-782-2959 or achambers@rrstar.com.