Embattled Park District of Oak Park board candidate Victor Guarino has until Feb. 6 to collect affidavits from the signers of at least 13 of the 17 challenged signatures to his nominating petition.
Guarino, who is completing his first term on the park board, said an administrative review of his nominating petition resulted in 17 of the signatures including either illegible signatures or addresses.
He is one of six remaining candidates for three open seats in the race for the park board. Candidate Kevin Ochalla, a previous park board candidate, withdrew his candidacy in January after his nominating petition was challenged. The challenges to both candidates were filed by Theresa Tedesso Greene and Jameel Abdur-Rafia.
The challenge to Guarino from both Greene and Abdur-Rafia state that all of his signatures are invalid in every single category that could render them invalid.
Guarino called it a shotgun approach and a fishing expedition.
“They objected to four lines (on the nominating petition) that didn’t even have signatures,” Guarino said in a telephone interview. “They have to go in with some basis for saying these things are bad.”
In his most recent administrative hearing, Guarino learned that candidate Bruce Samuels, who currently serves on the Oak Park Library Board, filed a motion on behalf of the objectors.
Reached by phone, Samuels acknowledged that he had signed the motion objecting to the nominating petition. He also signed the objection to Ochalla’s nominating petition.
Samuels said he did not orchestrate the challenges and could not remember the name of the person who asked him to sign.
“I agree that [petition challenges] shouldn’t be a focus of the pre-election process,” Samuels said. “The process should be that people with the [nominating petitions] should have debates.”
He also noted that candidates can still win a seat on the board through write-in campaigns.
Guarino said he believes the challenge “subverts the democratic process” and that candidates should debate the issues rather than trying to get their opponents thrown off the ballot.
“There are people running who don’t want to have that discussion,” Guarino said, noting that he would have collected more signatures but “I never would have expected people to challenge it.”