Candidacy of Whitney and the Greens Challenged

Article in the Southern by Nicole Sack on July 4, 2006

Candidacy of Whitney and the Greens Challenged
by Nicole Sack, the Southern
July 4, 2006
http://www.southernillinoisan.com/articles/2006/07/04/top/16834062.txt

The Green Party's statewide ticket, led by gubernatorial candidate Rich Whitney of Carbondale, drew objections Monday as two Chicagoland residents filed petitions keep the Greens off the November ballot.

Kevin Williams of Country Club Hills and Raython Bailey of Homewood are contesting the candidacy of the Greens' slate. Jennifer Rose, Whitney's campaign manager said it wasn't clear what the specific reason for the contention was - as the staff has yet to go through the monster petition.

"I heard the objection was over 8,000 pages long and it was rolled into the Chicago office of the State Board of Election with a dolly. It was four boxes and then some," Rose said. "The Democrats have objected and we will state our evidence to refute their objection and we'll just go through the petition. This could last as little as a few days or two weeks. It could go into mid-August before they know for sure if the objection is overruled."

Illinois Democratic Party Spokesman Steve Brown told The Southern Illinoisan Friday that the governor's lawyers had been reviewing Whitney's petition signatures to make sure the Greens were playing fair.

"We generally believe that everybody ought to play by the rules," Brown said.

A procedural hearing has been set for 9 a.m. July 11 to decide how the review process will be conducted. Even with the roadblock, Rose said the Greens are still feeling pretty good about their chances.

"Even though we've been objected to, we continue to be cautiously optimistic that our petition signatures were gathered properly and can easily be validated once we have the opportunity to do so," Rose said.

Whitney is looking to join Gov. Rod Blagojevich and Republican challenger State Treasurer Judy Baar Topinka on the General Election ballot.

Whitney and the Shawnee Greens will be conducting a "Celebration for the Founding Generation" event from 1 to 3 p.m. today at the Town Square Pavilion in Carbondale. There will be readings of original speeches given by the founding fathers as well as an opportunity for voters to learn about the party's platform.

nicole.sack@thesouthern.com

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