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Illinois Supreme Court Finds Retroactive Elk Grove Term Limits Question ‘Invalid’


Elk Grove Village Mayor Craig Johnson at a special town hall meeting Wednesday, Feb. 26 where he announced the proposed retroactive term limits referendum question was declared invalid by the Illinois Supreme Court earlier that same day. (Tom Robb/Journal photo)

The Illinois Supreme Court reversed a Cook County Circuit Court judge’s ruling Wednesday, Feb. 26, ordering a proposed retroactive term limits question for the Tuesday, March 17 Presidential Primary Election invalid. 

“We reverse the judgment of the circuit court,” a unanimous ruling of six Illinois State Supreme Court judges said. The ruling vacates a lower court ruling, as it applies to the Elk Grove question, and upholds the initial ruling of the Elk Grove Village Electoral Board, “which found the proposed referendum invalid.” 

Officials with the Cook County Clerk’s Office said any votes cast for or against the Elk Grove Village term limits question would not be counted or tabulated. 

Elk Grove Village Mayor Craig Johnson announced the Illinois Supreme Court’s ruling at a special town hall meeting later Wednesday night. The town hall, attended by more than 200, was held to discuss anonymous mailers and robocalls which have deluged Elk Grove Village since last summer. 

Attorneys for term limits proponent Tim Burns have repeatedly and vehemently denied any connection to those anonymous mailers and robocalls.    

Elk Grove Village Mayor Craig Johnson discussing term limits at an event at Rocco Vinos in Elk Grove Village Saturday, Feb. 22 (Photo provided by Emil Schivo)

The proposed term limits question would have retroactively barred any candidate who had already served two full four-year terms from running for reelection. That would have ended the tenure of Johnson and all but one village trustee from running again. 

The court’s ruling considered a petition objection filed by resident Benjamin Lee and applied the ruling to both Lee’s objection and a second similar objection by resident Gil Schumm. The ruling is based on a law signed by Gov. JB Pritzker in July 2019 just weeks after Burns filed his petition for a retroactive term limits ballot referendum in Elk Grove Village. Both objections cited that new state law. 

The new state law would not only bar home rule communities from enacting retroactive term limits through a ballot referendum, but would nullify any existing term limits laws made part of municipal ordinances since November 2016. 

The court’s ruling found Burns did not have standing to argue about the portion of the new state law voiding existing laws passed after November 2016, and said, “we find the trial (Cook County) court erred in considering those provisions.” Those provisions do not apply directly to Elk Grove as the village does not have existing term limits laws on the books. 

John Fogarty, attorney for objector Gil Schumm and The Committee to Oppose the Retroactive Term Limits Referendum, argues a legal point at a recent Elk Grove Village Electoral Board hearing as Ross Secler (left), attorney for term limits petition proponent Tim Burns looks on. (Tom Robb/Journal photo)

Burns attorney Ross Secler said in a written statement: “We are obviously disappointed in the result from the opinion issued today by the Supreme Court of Illinois in the Burns v. Lee case. We wish the voters were given the ability to exercise their constitutional rights to choose how they select their elected municipal officers, but we respect the judicial process and are exploring any further options.”  

John Fogarty, an attorney for Schumm, said as the defense of the objection did not claim any federal issues, it could not go to the federal courts for review. Schumm is the treasurer of a campaign committee opposing the retroactive term limits question. 

“Technically, we could seek certiorari (order for review by a higher court) from the Supreme Court of the United States. But other than that, and while we are still exploring all options, there is likely no federal court avenue at this time,” Secler said. 

He continued, “Of course, the best term limits can be those that are self-imposed and, given the mayor’s conduct and rhetoric throughout this process, we would hope that he exercises that option. It is also worth noting that the numerous, frivolous allegations made in the objection filed by the mayor’s plan commissioner (Kitty Vanderweel Weiner) that were stricken, overruled, unproven, or voluntarily withdrawn were undisturbed by the Court.” 

Vanderweel Weiner is a village plan commissioner and the chair of the Committee to Oppose the Retroactive Term Limits Referendum. She and her mother, former Elk Grove Township Supervisor Nanci Vanderweel, have long been political advisors to Johnson.  

A opponent of a retroactive term limits ballot question (left) with Elk Grove Village Mayor Craig Johnson (right) at a Feb. 1 anti term limits open house at Real Time Sports in Elk Grove Village. (Tom Robb/Journal photo (c) Feb. 1, 2020)

Jim Scalzitti, spokesman for Cook County Clerk Karen Yarbrough, said it is too late in the election cycle to remove the question from printed paper election ballots or to remove them from electronic ballots used in early voting, but said any votes cast for or against early voting would not be counted or tabulated. He said county clerk’s IT staff is working to remove the question from the electronic ballot used on Election Day. 

Scalzitti said poster size signs would be posted in all early voting Elk Grove Village and Election Day polling sites informing voters of the court’s ruling removing the question from the ballot. Election judges at all early voting sites across Cook County would also hand voters a piece of paper with the same notice.

As voters input their choices for candidates in the voting booth, those votes have not yet been officially cast. Scalzitti said it is not until a paper printout from a voting machine is scanned by an election judge that votes are cast. 

As that scanning of the completed ballot printout takes place, Scalzitti said the scanner can be programmed not to read and tabulate specific candidates or questions, as would be the case with the term limits referendum question.  

An illuminated truck displaying messages for term limits referendum proponents passes outside Real Time Sports in spite of warnings by the owner of the shopping center he would call police for trespassing. (Tom Robb/Journal photo (c) Feb. 6, 2020)

Although as argued by Burns’ attorneys, that the new law stripped voters of their rights to choose the manner to select their leaders, the court’s ruling said, “Burns’ novel reading of section 6(f) would read sections 6(h) and 6(i) out of the constitution. The General Assembly may always limit the powers of a home rule unit under sections 6(h) and 6(i) as long as it does so expressly.” 

Village funds did not pay attorneys fees for the objectors or Burns in work or related appearances at the electoral board, county court or Illinois Supreme Court.

 

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