Objectors to Colatorti candidacy ask for judicial review of decision to keep him on ballot

Objectors to the candidacy of McHenry County sheriff hopeful Tony Colatorti asked a McHenry County judge Tuesday to overturn the county electoral board’s decision last week to keep him on the ballot.

Colatorti Tuesday called the filing an effort to “continue to disenfranchise voters and waste taxpayer’s money.”

The request for judicial review argues that the electoral board erred in finding that Colatorti met the state’s requirements to run for sheriff because his certification is for a part-time officer, not full-time, and asks that Colatorti not be allowed to appear on the ballot for June’s primary.

The legal challenge is a continuation of the objection filed by McHenry County residents William Brogan and Joel Brumlik last month.

In the filing Tuesday, attorney Keri-Lyn Krafthefer cited the requirements to run for sheriff, which calls for training to be completed in a “concentrated study which is continuous and full-time.”

“Because the classes taken by the candidate did not satisfy the legal requirements, ... the electoral board’s decision was erroneous,” she said in the filing.

Colatorti testified last week that he completed part-time training, but said the various certificates he held counted as full-time training. He also has been police chief at two different departments in McHenry County and holds two decades of experience.

Testimony from John Keigher, chief legal counsel for the Illinois Law Enforcement Training and Standards Board, also swayed the board in favor of keeping Colatorti on the ballot. He said training and testing for both part-time and full-time officers are the same in Illinois. The key difference is the amount of time, in which they have to complete those courses, he said.

The filing argues the electoral board members, Sam Weyers, Steve Cuda and Lisle Stalter, “erroneously” made their decision based on the testimony at the hearing rather than the state’s statutory language.

“The electoral board was confused regarding its role,” Krafthefer said in the filing.

Colatorti said Tuesday he expects a judge to rule in his favor and keep him on the ballot.

“My opponent knows he will lose if he has to run in a free and fair election against me,” he said. “I will always stand for election integrity and your constitutional rights.”

McHenry County Undersheriff Robb Tadelman, who is Colatorti’s opponent in the primary, said Monday he heard about the efforts to file for a judicial review and that he would support their efforts.

“My focus will continue to be on my campaign,” he said.

Tuesday’s filing follows four meetings that took place in March and April, three of which dealt with seating the board. At the final meeting last Thursday, the board’s three-member panel unanimously voted that Colatorti was qualified.

The deadline for the McHenry County clerk to certify the ballot is Thursday. When that deadline comes, the county will most likely have to certify the current ballot with a note that the objection still is pending, McHenry County Clerk Joe Tirio said.

However, that would solve the issue only temporarily, Tirio said. Early voting is set to start May 19.

“At some point, we’re going to have to print the ballot,” Tirio said. “I’m hopeful it’ll be resolved by that point. But if I had to bet on it, I don’t know.”

Currently, the county has more than a dozen total races set to show up on this year’s ballots, across state, judicial and county races, which have unresolved objections, Tirio said. The sheriff’s contest is the only county-level race on that list.

With several races across the state still with pending objections, the state should issue some level of guidance if deadlines continue to pass, Tirio said.