No decision yet on whether Joliet Township trustee will keep office

Joliet Township officials have not made any decisions yet on whether a trustee with prior felony convictions will stay on the township board, according to an attorney.

With 3,222 votes, Karl Ferrell, 41, was able to win a seat on the Joliet Township board in the April 6 election.

However, officials with Will County State’s Attorney James Glasgow’s Office said Ferrell is ineligible to serve in that office under the Illinois Township Code because of his past felony convictions.

In 2010, Ferrell pleaded guilty to unlawful drug possession and weapon charges in Will County, court records show. He also pleaded guilty to a drug possession charge in 1998 in Will County, as well as two other drug charges in Cook County in 2005 and 2000, records show.

“No decision has been made yet,” said Bryan Wellner, an attorney for the township.

Wellner, speaking on behalf of the township board, said the issue is a legal matter and there’s been no collective discussion among trustees yet.

Trustees are scheduled to convene for a meeting on Jan. 18. An agenda has not yet been posted.

Ferrell has told The Herald-News that he has no plans to resign. He said Glasgow’s office brought up the issue of his ineligibility for office as retaliation for his past activism over several issues, including the Eric Lurry case.

When asked about Ferrell staying on as trustee and whether the state’s attorney’s office would try to remove Ferrell, Glasgow’s spokeswoman, Carole Cheney, said Tuesday that nothing has been filed by their office.

Cheney said their office alerted the township attorney of Ferrell’s ineligibility and “discussed various possibilities.” She disputed their office raised the issue as retaliation against Ferrell.

A person’s right to elected office is typically challenged by a quo warranto complaint. Matt Dietrich, Illinois State Board of Elections spokesman, said the state’s attorney would take action to remove an ineligible office holder from office.

Ferrell declined to comment on what options he planned to pursue to stay in office but did mention the possibility of receiving a pardon or clemency from the governor’s office for his past convictions.

“I’m going to do what’s best for the community,” Ferrell said.

A similar situation occurred about four years ago in Markham. Roger Agpawa ran for mayor but was deemed ineligible by Cook County State’s Attorney Kim Foxx because of his 1999 federal felony mail fraud conviction.

Agpawa sought relief from former Governor Bruce Rauner, who found him fit to receive a “restoration of rights of citizenship” in 2018.

On April 22, the First District Appellate Court held Agpawa was ineligible for office. That decision was reversed by the Illinois Supreme Court on Aug. 26.

“While the governor has no constitutional authority to pardon a federal conviction, the governor has statutory authority to mitigate the collateral electoral consequences of such a conviction by issuing a restoration of rights,” Justice Mary Jane Theis wrote.

When contacted about the issue involving Ferrell, Brian Gaines, a University of Illinois political science professor, said he cannot claim to be a true expert on the topic but his understanding is that Ferrell would be eligible to hold office with a gubernatorial restoration of rights.

Citing the Agpawa case, Gaines said a governor could not issue a pardon but does “have the power to restore eligibility lost on the basis of past conviction, even for a federal crime.”