By: Diane Benjamin
The Town of Normal’s hired attorney thinks he decides who gets on the ballot and who doesn’t.
Remember when Mike Madigan’s attorney sent letters to the 3 who filed petitions to run for Clerk, Supervisor, and Collector? Michael Kasper thought he decided who was on the ballot all by himself. If Stan Nord hadn’t emailed the Clerk he would have gotten by with it.
Kasper should resign as the attorney for the Electoral Board since he has proven he won’t give sound advice. Attorney Tom Devore spelled it out perfectly in his filing: https://blnnews.com/2022/12/21/tom-devores-response-to-fritzen-and-dullard/
That filing recaps the whole saga Normal brought on themselves by failing to listen to people. Thankfully MANY of you have downloaded the 8 pages!
That wasn’t the only mistake made by Kasper:
A lady named Catherine Cannon dropped off a filing outside the Clerk’s office. Her filing is messy at best but it clearly says she is running as a Write-In TRUSTEE candidate:
The first paragraph states Cannon submitted documents to run for Town Clerk, she didn’t. That error is corrected later when Kasper claims she needs 435 signatures to run for Trustee. Actually she needs ZERO signatures to run as a Write-In. We also don’t know if the Clerk’s office was actually open until 5:00 because the video doesn’t have a time stamp. In the 2nd to last paragraph Kasper claims her filing doesn’t have “apparent conformity”. Normal doesn’t have an “apparent conformity” policy to comply with!
I asked back in August:
The letter also violates Cannon’s right to due process! Kasper does not have the power to decide she doesn’t qualify to be a Write-In candidate. The window to run as a Write-In is still open. I can’t wait to see how much Normal is paying him.
Kasper’s letter:
Hiring Kasper to deny only the “non-Koos/Reece-approved candidates” ballot access without giving them due process was a strategic move to add more finger-pointing to avoid liability/accountability. Any lawsuit or investigation will be clouded by Reece, Day, Koos, the Clerk, and Kasper all pointing fingers at each other.
The fact that the “Koos/Reece-approved candidates” have conformity problems and did not get Kasper’s scrutiny shows how this is all about using taxpayer dollars to help the “Koos/Reece-approved candidates” win elections.
All the nastyness of national politics, cheating, and doing WHATEVER it takes has found it’s way to Normal.
Been here a long time, people are finally noticing.
You had me at Mike Madigan’s attorney. Add Koos to the equation and the sum equals deceit.
What has not been answered for me is who made the decision to retain Kasper in the first place? What is the retainer fee? Who approved this? Is this part of Pam Reece’s discretionary slush fund? Why does Normal need Brian Day if he’s going to be outsourced?
Do Fritzen and Dullard have a go fund me page or are they themselves picking up the tab for Todd Greenburg to represent them? Or, is that being passed on to the taxpayers of Normal?
We’ve got a lot of accountability issues here that are not being answered. Add Mike Madigan’s attorney representing the establishment to the mix and it’s not a good look for Normal.
Kasper was Madigan’s attorney when Madigan was committing all the things he is being indited for now. Pam Reece hired the dirtiest attorney in Illinois. Let that sink in a bit.
Birds of a feather…
As a current on-the-ballot and former write-in candidate for Trustee, I can certainly speak to this topic.
Her papers are a mess. If she was running to be on the ballot, then the biggest question is whether the office was indeed open ’til 5pm on the last day; from there, any objection would be easily sustained for insufficient signatures, so it’s largely a moot question. If she is intending to run as a write-in candidate, then you are correct that there is no signature requirement, however the papers need to be filed with the County Clerk, not the Town Clerk. Since the deadline is the 29th, she still has time to re-file as a write-in.
I agree that the evidence presented here makes the Town and Kasper look bad, but a significant portion of whether this truly is bad or not depends on what if any other related communication or attempts at communication occurred, and we cannot determine that just from this article.
Whether the true situation is bad or fine or in between, thank you again Diane for bringing us news that others do not cover!
I agree with everything you stated, Karl. However, the question still remains who made the decision to retain Kasper? Why isn’t this objection coming from Brian Day? How much are the taxpayers spending to have Attorney Kasper?
I’ll start with the middle, easy question: Why isn’t this objection coming from Brian Day? Because for Brian Day to object would be blatantly illegal, and Koos, Reece, Day et al are very careful not to do anything blatant.
Who decided to retain Kasper? We may never know for certain, but who exactly does not matter.
How much they are spending will probably be well publicized during the next two Town elections. I’d guess low tens of thousands by the time all is said and done.
If she’s so awful at filling out forms, why would anyone vote for her? There is a fully separate form to fill out as a write-in: https://www.mcleancountyil.gov/DocumentCenter/View/21518/Declaration-of-Intent-to-be-a-Write-in-Candidate What she wrote by hand does not correspond with the language here. This goes to a fully separate office from the one she submitted to. Her handwriting is barely legible–and why not just type her intent in the first place? Judging from the tremors in the writing alone, Michael Kasper deserves a bonus.
Exactly. These papers and this woman are a mess. Why does Normal need a Chicago attorney to address this when we have in house Counsel (Brian Day)? If Brian Day can’t answer this, then he’s even more incompetent than I think he is.
Bullies push until someone pushes back. Kasper appears like he throws out numerous arguments in an attempt to see if one sticks. When you can’t or don’t know how to argue logically, truthfully and with precedent this is the strategy most often taken. Quality counsel and Village prices.
Sad, when citizens are forced to hire lawyers, and go to court, to force our government to follow the law.
The “professional staff” decided they are the gate keepers for who can run in elections. Why even bother with elections in Normal; just let the Reece Royal staff decide for us. Most of the council tells us that they rubber stamp vote because staff knows better then them anyway.
10% increase in voters would wipe them out. The people have power and refuse to use it.