Objections filed to Lakewood Village Board candidates’ nomination papers

All candidates – incumbents and newcomers alike – running for the Lakewood Village Board in the April election are facing objections to their nomination papers that could keep them off the ballot.

Hearings on the objections were scheduled for this past week, but both meetings were postponed after motions were made for two members of Lakewood’s electoral board, Village President Phil Stephan and Trustee Amy Odom, to be disqualified from presiding over the hearings because of a conflict of interest.

Now, the village is waiting for a McHenry County judge to assign two members to Lakewood’s electoral board to replace Stephan and Odom to have another hearing.

At stake is who will get to appear on the April ballot when the village president position, as well as three village trustee seats, are up for election.

Running for village president are incumbent Phil Stephan as well as David Stavropoulos. Trustee candidates include incumbents Pamela Eddy and Dan Alexander as well as April Runge, Michael Fischer, William Wayne and Tricia Babischkin.

Trustee Ryan Berman objected to Stavropoulos, Fischer, Runge and Babischkin. Jason McMahon, a resident and former Lakewood trustee, objected to the papers filed by Alexander, Stephan, Eddy and Wayne.

Berman claimed in his objection that Stavropoulos, Fischer, Runge, and Babischkin had “multiple forged signatures” on their nomination papers, saying each candidate submitted signature sheets where multiple lines were signed by the same person.

McMahon, in his objection, said Eddy, Alexander and Wayne had drawn, altered, or added to their nomination papers after they were filed, which is a violation of the Illinois Election Code. McMahon claimed Stephan’s nomination papers were also added to after being filed.

McMahon said the trustee candidates originally gave the village clerk nomination papers that were not bound as they were required to be and that at some point after realizing that, the candidates “demanded” the village clerk return the papers to them so they could be stapled together. Then, McMahon alleged, they also demanded the village clerk indicate on their candidate receipt for filing nomination papers that they were stapled.

Alexander and Wayne, McMahon claimed, also failed to file a statement of economic interest with the McHenry County Clerk.

In Stephan’s case, McMahon alleges, he also demanded the village clerk return the nomination papers to him when he saw they were unbound. McMahon said Stephan then went to the Village of Lakewood Police Department and used a stapler owned by the village to bind the nomination papers together.

Stephan, McMahon said in the objection, then returned the nomination papers to the village clerk and demanded she indicate they were stapled, and also failed to file a statement of economic interest with the McHenry County Clerk.