Sheriff candidate to remain on ballot after electoral board rules he’s qualified

McHenry County sheriff’s candidate Tony Colatorti will stay on the June ballot after the county’s electoral board unanimously decided he met the requirements set by the state to hold the office.

The board Thursday voted that his qualifications, which have him holding a part-time certification as a law enforcement officer, were substantially enough and similar to that of a full-time officer.

Much of the board’s decision stemmed from the expert testimony of John Keigher, chief legal counsel for the Illinois Law Enforcement Training and Standards Board, who said training and testing for full-time and part-time officers is the same.

Board Chairman Sam Weyers called the testimony “compelling.”

He, along with other members Steve Cuda and Lisle Stalter, reasoned the intent of the law is to prevent those without law enforcement experience from holding the office.

Before his retirement in 2020, Colatorti had been a police officer for two decades, including serving as police chief for both Holiday Hills and Prairie Grove.

“If the purpose of the act is to make sure that our candidates have some qualifications to serve in the capacity of sheriff, then I don’t think it should really matter what we call those courses,” Cuda said.

Immediately following the decision, Colatorti deferred questions to his campaign’s spokesperson, Kevin Byrnes. In a prepared statement, he called for Colatorti’s opponent, McHenry County Undersheriff Robb Tadelman, to apologize for his previous comments about Colatorti’s qualifications.

“Democracy and voter integrity prevailed today,” Byrnes said. “Tony Colatorti was honest about his qualifications with the voters since day one of his campaign.”

Later in the day, Colatorti sent out a news release with a full statement, echoing similar sentiments to Byrnes, calling previous comments about him not being qualified a “lie.”

“I expect [Tadelman] to continue to lie about my qualifications,” he said in the release. “My campaign has continuously exposed our opponent for his lack of integrity.”

Tadelman said he had not heard Colatorti’s comments but said he disagrees with the board’s decision.

“It is now up to the objectors to make a decision as to whether or not they will continue their objections in the courts,” Tadelman said. “If they decide to that, I will continue to support their efforts. For now, I will continue running my campaign for sheriff of McHenry County.”

Keri-Lyn Krafthefer, attorney for the objectors, said after the decision there is a fundamental difference between full-time and part-time officer training, and the state has acknowledged the distinction.

“The electoral board just didn’t follow the administrative regulations,” she said.

Krafthefer said she does not yet know if her clients will appeal the decision, but said they have until Tuesday to decide.

During Thursday’s hearing, Krafthefer said the objectors didn’t disagree Colatorti’s training was similar to that of a full-time officer, but that the timeframe requirements for a full-time officer calls for more continuous training.

During his testimony, Colatorti did not say whether he had been employed as a full-time police officer, but instead insisted various certificates he had counted as full-time training.

Specifically, a series of police training courses he took in the late 1990s, along with a firearms course, counted as the certification he needed, he said, as it was similar to other minimum standards courses.

“Mr. Colatorti is certified,” his attorney, Pericles Abbasi, said. “He took a course that’s the same as Mr. Tadelman’s. … He has the same training, passed the same test. … It’s a distinction without difference.”

Colatorti said he also sought advice from the Illinois Law Enforcement Training and Standards Board on whether he was qualified to run both before and after launching his campaign.

“We do the exact same job as any other law enforcement officer in the state of Illinois,” Colatorti said.

Still, Krafthefer pointed to both county and state code, saying it called for a specific set of requirements. That is, full-time training must be done within a six-month period, while the part-time training can be finished in 18 months.

The objectors agree his training was similar, but the manner it was done doesn’t meet the requirements, Krafthefer said.

“The law cares nothing of trifles,” Krafthefer said. “He does not have the certificate.”

The question of Colatorti’s certification dates back to March when Joel Brumlik and William Brogan filed an objection to his campaign stating he did not have the required full-time training need to run for sheriff.

Colatorti previously had called the claim a “baseless legal challenge.”

Three meetings about the objection took place before Thursday’s decision, all of which dealt with setting the electoral board for the hearing.

Originally, the board was made up of Stalter, who was a designee for State’s Attorney Patrick Kenneally, along with County Clerk Joe Tirio and Debra Schmitt, who was the designee for the Circuit Clerk.

Both Tirio and Schmitt recused themselves after concerns were brought up regarding their ability to remain unbiased in the case. Stalter didn’t follow suit, saying she saw no legal reason to remove herself from the board.