W E D N E S D A Y
JOURNAL of Oak Park and River Forest
January 4, 2017 Vol. 35, No. 20 ONE DOLLAR
@O @OakPark
Oak Park candidates face petition challenges Three trustee and three clerk candidates face challenges By TIMOTHY INKLEBARGER Staff Reporter
Oak Park homeowner and accounts director at a digital marketing agency to a citizen activist and now a local politician — although he probably spurns that last label. He was at a local Starbucks one Saturday when a fellow Oak Parker, Mike Poirier, approached him about signing
Half of the candidates running for public office in the April 2017 municipal election in Oak Park are facing challenges to their nominating petitions. That includes the three candidates backed by the Village Manager Association (VMA). Three village trustee candidates – Glenn Brewer, Peter Barber and Emily Masalski – and three for village clerk – Mas Takiguchi, Elia Gallegos and Lori Malinski – have been challenged by Oak Park resident Kevin Peppard. Challenges similar to Peppard’s against Brewer, Barber and Malinski were brought by former village trustee Robert Milstein and against Masalski by George Lazewski. Peppard said in a telephone interview that he is not working with any other candidates and that he filed the six challenges independently because of his interest in enforcing the election code. “I don’t know who most of the people are, and I don’t have a dog in this fight,” he said. He said there is no authority in the state to challenge nominating petitions if there are irregularities in the signature gathering process and likened himself to a referee in a boxing match.
See SHEEHAN on page 13
See ELECTION CHALLENGE on page 14
WILLIAM CAMARGO/Staff Photographer
STILL PETITIONING: Monica Sheehan, pictured in front of Oak Park and River Forest High School on Dec. 17. Sheehan, a married mother of two, has been a growing force in local school politics.
Villager of the Year: Monica Sheehan Sheehan’s Pragmatic Pool Solutions could be a force for years to come
By MICHAEL ROMAIN Staff Reporter
Monica Sheehan, a former television news reporter and media professional, has been the guiding force behind the defeat of not one, but two multimilliondollar, publicly-funded construction plans and has inspired three people to run for local office, but she’d rather not
talk about herself, she said in a recent inter2016 view, deflecting attenVILLAGER tion to a core team of of the at least two dozen volunteers like Jack DaYEAR vidson. Davidson remembers vividly the day in November 2015 when his identity began to slowly change from
NEW YEAR, NEW MENU Stop in to try it out!
www.mayadelsol.com | 144 s oak park ave