Dupage Policy Journal

Jeanne Ives said she was disappointed with a federal judge’s decision to dismiss the “sham” candidate case against Speaker Mike Madigan but still holds out hope that the court system could lead to Madigan's downfall.

“While this case was important and should have gone forward to expose the political gamesmanship Speaker Madigan has played, an even more important case is the one David Krupa has against Madigan ally Alderman Martin Quinn. Krupa’s case shows how arrogant and thuggish the Madigan machine truly is,” Ives told the DuPage Policy Journal.

Earlier in September, even as U.S. District Judge Matthew F. Kennelly dismissed the case filed by 2016 Democratic primary challenger Jason Gonzales in District 22, the judge said that it is “undisputed” that some members of Madigan’s political organization worked to put at least two candidates with Hispanic-sounding last names on the ballot as a way of confusing voters and splintering their vote.

Just before proceedings began, the Chicago Tribune reported that former Madigan lieutenant Kevin Quinn admitted to the court that he once inquired whether Joe Barboza, one of the two candidates with a Hispanic-sounding surname, would be interested in running. In the case of Grasiela Rodriguez, the second suspect candidate, it was also established that workers from Madigan’s organization actively collected signatures to get her on the ballot.

“Quinn, allegedly, directed or had directed the falsification of election documents,” Ives said. “They all should be run out of town.”

In the Krupa case, a Cook County grand jury recently subpoenaed city election records associated with the election in the 13th Ward in February. Quinn challenged the DePaul University freshman’s nominating signatures, but he withdriew his challenge when it was determined most of the signatures Quinn submitted were illegitimate.

Krupa has said the challenge was meant to be a form of harassment and an effort to intimidate him from Quinn and Madigan, the 13th Ward’s longtime Democratic committeeman and chairman of the Illinois Democratic Party.

While Quinn’s camp submitted almost 2,800 affidavits, only 187 signatures submitted by him actually matched signatures in Krupa’s paperwork. The signatures submitted by Quinn numbered more than a thousand above the 1,729 Krupa actually submitted to get on the ballot.

Attorneys for Gonzales have indicated they plan to appeal the verdict in their case, where Gonzales was seeking up to $2 million in damages.