The world is full of prolific cheaters. In the world of finance there’s Bernie Madoff, whose legendary Ponzi scheme cheated thousands of investors out of $65 billion. In sports, the New England Patriots have been caught electronically stealing opponent’s signals and were recently accused of even deflating footballs for an added advantage.
However, in East St. Louis, political cheating is the game of choice and one in which all rules are made to be broken.
Take the recent decision by the East St. Louis election board to allow incumbent Mayor Alvin Parks to remain on the ballot despite failing to obtain the required number of signatures on his election petition.
The state requires a candidate to have a minimum of 136 signatures, while Parks only had 126. But the election board concluded that Parks came close enough.
Parks’ opponent for the mayoral seat, Councilwoman Emeka Jackson-Hicks, asked the St. Clair County Circuit Court to overturn that decision, but to no avail.
St. Clair County Judge Heinz Rudolph ruled that he was “bound by the law” to keep Parks’ name on the ballot, citing previous cases in which Illinois judges have allowed candidates to remain on the ballot with less than 100 percent of the required signatures.
Parks even had the audacity to tell KTVI reporter Elliot Davis (with a straight face) that he felt justified in remaining on the ballot.
This is a sad statement on multiple levels. First of all, what kind of sitting mayor can’t get a measly 136 signatures on a petition? Answer: Parks, who has zero accomplishments in eight years as mayor and has clearly lost the confidence of voters.
Secondly, what kind of election board and judge would ignore the rules for the election petition process? Answer: political cronies and those who would appear to be under the control of St. Clair County Board Chairman Mark Kern and Bob Sprague, chairman of the St. Clair Democratic party.
Parks historically has maintained a more than cozy relationship with Kern and Sprague, and it is in their best interest to keep Parks on the ballot so that they may maintain their control of East St. Louis (through Parks) and St. Clair County through their control of the ESL vote (through the ESL election board).
Jackson-Hicks is appealing the case to a higher court in hopes that Parks will be removed from the ballot.
Should that be the case, Parks has vowed that he would run as a write-in candidate – a more difficult race to win, even with the infamous shenanigans displayed in previous elections, with absentee ballots and early voting.
Let’s just hope that the voice of the ESL voter will be heard in the final analysis.
Email: jtingram_1960@yahoo.com; Twitter@JamesTIngram.
