3 Cairo council hopefuls off ballot

CAIRO, Ill. -- Three city council candidates with felony convictions were removed from the Feb. 27 primary ballot Friday, but two mayoral candidates, one of whom also has a felony record, survived challenges.

The rejected candidates for city council vowed to fight in court to be reinstated in time for the primary. All of the candidates who went through the challenge accused Mayor Paul Farris of engineering the effort to kick them off the ballot. When filing for office ended Dec. 18, there were 26 candidates for the six council seats and 10 candidates for mayor.

Phillip Matthews, a candidate in Ward 2, and Charles Koen and Gregory Walker, both candidates in Ward 3, lost their ballot slots on a 2-1 vote by an electoral board. City clerk Erica Wells voted with Farris to exclude them, while 24-year council veteran Elbert "Bo" Purchase voted to allow the three to compete for office.

Illinois state law bars convicted felons from serving in municipal elected offices. Questions that could play a role in a court case that each of the rejected candidates promise to pursue are whether the objections were filed in a timely manner and whether the law barring felons can be constitutionally enforced.

The two contested mayoral candidates, Esley Cornelius and Bobby Whitaker, survived on 2-1 votes. Councilwoman Linda Jackson, taking Farris' place on the panel, and Purchase voted to accept their candidacies; Wells voted to remove them.

Whitaker was the only candidate who wasn't being challenged based on a criminal past. Instead, he was accused of falsifying a signature on a nominating petition and certifying that he had personally gathered all the signatures. His accuser, Tawanna Wilkerson, did not show up to make a statement about the alleged forgery.

Nominating petitions required 16 signatures to put a candidate on the ballot. Whitaker turned in 60.

In Farris' absence, Whitaker questioned whether the letter alleging the forgery was actually written by Wilkerson, and accused Wells of working with Farris to orchestrate the challenge. "I had 60 signatures," Whitaker noted. "Was mine the only one screened?"

Wells said all petitions were checked. "We did not tell her what to do," she said of Wilkerson. "We did not tell her where to sign."

Whitaker, a longtime council member and Farris opponent, said the effort to remove him from the ballot was typical of Farris' attempts to silence opponents. "This is a good example of what we have been going through," he said. "The man is grasping at straws. He is drowning."

As the other challenges were heard, each of the candidates except for Walker acknowledged their felony convictions.

Cornelius was convicted of drug trafficking, resisting arrest and possession of drug paraphernalia in 2000. Matthews was convicted of theft in 1998. Koen was convicted in federal court in 1991 on charges of theft of government funds, false statements, aiding and abetting destruction by fire and aiding and abetting fraud. Walker was convicted in 1996 of heroin possession.

During the hearing on council candidates, Farris sought to limit comments to the issue of qualifications for office. But each of the candidates sought to make Farris the issue, questioning his leadership style and the legality of his actions. Koen told Farris he was seeking a federal investigation of the actions preventing him from seeking office.

"I am as concerned about Cairo as much as anyone else is," Koen said. "But I am not going to let this foolishness go on. When you come and bring it to my table, I am going to do everything in my power to prevent it."

Walker, who refused to answer questions about his past, said Farris was "digging into my past and attacking my character." He was asked repeatedly whether the information about his past was correct, but he replied by accusing Farris of orchestrating the challenge. "You put them up to it," he said of the challenge, which was filed by another council candidate, Lorenzo Nelson, who didn't appear for the hearing.

In an interview after the hearing, Farris said he didn't reply to the allegations as each candidate came forward because he wanted to stick with the issue of their eligibility for office. "I wasn't going to get off base and let them put us on trial."

When objections based on the felony convictions was presented, Farris said, city attorney Patrick Cox did the research to confirm the allegations.

Cox said there is no doubt that the four convicted felons cannot serve if elected. "I don't care if they take it all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court," he said. "They will not prevail."

But Matthews cited a 1980 Illinois Court of Appeals ruling that allowed a convicted felon to remain in office. "I am one step ahead of them already," Matthews said.

rkeller@semissourian.com

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