A local electoral board hearing Wednesday morning, Aug. 19, will determine the validity of an objection to a controversial advisory referendum regarding whether Illinois should repeal laws that ban state investment in businesses that boycott Israel.
The hearing, which will be in Room 101 at Village Hall, 123 Madison St., will be presided over by an electoral board consisting of Village President Vicki Scaman, Trustee Jim Taglia and Village Clerk Christina Waters.
Community canvassers from Oak Parkers for Free Speech collected more than 3,500 signatures in support of the referendum. The notarized signatures – far more than the minimum required number of about 2,000 – were collected over 12 weeks by an Aug. 3 village deadline.
According to the hearing agenda, Alan H. Peres and Piergiorgio Uslenghi, both registered Oak Park voters, objected to a proposed referendum question for the Nov. 3 ballot that reads: “Should the state of Illinois repeal laws that ban state investment in businesses that boycott the state of Israel?”
The objection was filed by attorney Michael Kasper of the Chicago government-relations law firm Kasper, Holmes & Dring. Kasper has been mum about the basis of the objection. Peres and Uslenghi could not be reached for comment Saturday.
According to a village spokesperson, “The electoral board will decide at the hearing whether to sustain the objection and find the petition invalid. The hearing may be continued if good cause is shown, so the ultimate decision might not be made on Wednesday.”
The spokesperson added that a bench memo is being prepared to provide the electoral board with background information, relevant law and legal analysis regarding the issue raised in the objection, but a recommendation to that body will not be made.
Taglia, who has served on an electoral board in the past, said validity of the objection, or not, requires a two-thirds vote.
“We’re receiving an information packet,” Taglia said. “The memo is like a legal analysis; it’s our determination to evaluate the objection. I don’t think it’s a difficult analysis. It’s just something we have to do.”
He added that if the electoral board determines the objection is not valid, there could be an appeal process outside the village.
The hearing agenda names Caren Van Slyke and Jesse Bauer, members of the group Oak Parkers for Free Speech that formulated the referendum question, as its principal proponents.
Late last week, the group provided a statement to Wednesday Journal titled, “Oak Parkers Deserve a Voice in November.” It said in part that the objection does not challenge the referendum question itself or the authenticity of the signatures.
“Instead, it challenges the affidavit portion of our petitions in an effort to prevent Oak Park voters from having our say in November,” it said. “In the days ahead, we will use every lawful means available to uphold the rights of the thousands of Oak Park voters who signed our petitions.
“Opponents claim the referendum is about Middle East policy. It is not. It is about an Illinois law that restricts the right to boycott, in violation of a unanimous 1982 Supreme Court decision that economic boycotts are protected free speech, and that directly impacts the pensions of current and retired Illinois state employees residing in Oak Park. These are issues for Oak Park voters – and we deserve to be heard.”
An opposition group, Jewish Community and Friends for Democracy, which was not affiliated with the objection, previously noted in a prepared statement to the Journal “that questions about a longstanding Middle East conflict do not belong on a local Oak Park ballot. Most importantly, this ballot measure is divisive and distracts our community from pressing local issues like access to health care and affordable housing.”