Burr Ridge Mayor's Election Petition Challenged

BURR RIDGE, IL — A Burr Ridge Village Board candidate was barred from the ballot two years ago after a resident filed an objection to his election petition.

This time around, the former candidate, Steven Mueller, filed an objection to Mayor Gary Grasso's re-election petition. Grasso is running unopposed in the April 6 election.

Under Illinois law, candidates are required to follow an exacting process with their paperwork. Seemingly smaller errors can get them removed as candidates.

According to Mueller's objection, Grasso's petition was not validly notarized because the notarization was dated "December 3, 2021," nearly a year into the future. On the form, "October" was crossed out and replaced with "December." The "2021" was preprinted on the form and left unaltered.

Mueller also pointed to a law that says the "heading of each sheet shall be the same" in the petition. Mueller noted this wasn't the case with Grasso's petitions, which alternated between "Village President" and "Mayor/Village President."

In his objection, Mueller said the deficiencies warrant Grasso's removal as a candidate.

Under Illinois law, the electoral boards that rule on challenges to municipal election petitions aren't exactly independent.

They are made up of the mayor, the longest-serving trustee and the village clerk. Grasso cannot participate as a member in this case because he is involved as a party.

The members are Trustees Guy Franzese and Al Paveza and Clerk Sue Schaus, a friendly group for Grasso. Franzese and Paveza are mayoral allies, with Grasso already endorsing Franzese, who is seeking re-election. The mayor recently appointed Schaus as clerk.

The electoral board meets at 5 p.m. Thursday.

Grasso declined to comment on the objection Wednesday, saying it would be improper to do so before the electoral board rules. Patch could not find contact information for Mueller.

In 2019, the electoral board removed Mueller as a candidate, saying he was 22 valid signatures short on his petition, according to a Chicago Tribune story. Resident James Broline filed the objection.

Mueller said he felt like the challenge was a personal attack, the Tribune reported.

Electoral board members said they did not believe Mueller meant to deceive anyone, according to the Tribune. But they all voted to deny his petition.