O'Donaghue v. Cook County Officers Electoral Bd.

SECOND DIVISION
March 10, 1998

No. 1-98-0438

BILL O'DONAGHUE ) Appeal from the
) Circuit Court of
Petitioner-Appellant, ) Cook County
)
v. )
)
THE COOK COUNTY OFFICERS ELECTORAL BOARD)
and its members HONORABLE DAVID D. ORR, )
HONORABLE AURELIA PUCINSKI, and )
HONORABLE RICHARD A. DEVINE, )
)
Respondents-Appellees, ) Honorable
) Raymond Jagielski,
(Stephanie A. Leathers, Objector). ) Judge Presiding.

PRESIDING JUSTICE McNULTY delivered the opinion of the court:
This case involves construction of article 4A of the Illinois
Governmental Ethics Act (the Act) (5 ILCS 420/4A-101 et seq. (West
1996)). Petitioner, Bill O'Donaghue, filed papers to run as a
candidate for the Democratic Party nomination for the office of
member of the Cook County Board of Commissioners for the tenth
district. He filed a "Statement of Economic Interests" with the
Secretary of State. Stephanie Leathers objected to the papers on
grounds that petitioner filed the wrong form in the wrong office.
The Cook County Officers Electoral Board (Electoral Board) declared
the nomination papers invalid and kept petitioner's name off the
ballot.
Petitioner sought judicial review. He appeals from the trial
court's judgment affirming the decision of the Electoral Board. We
entered our order affirming the trial court on February 18, 1998.
We now explain our reasons for that decision.
The General Assembly enacted article 4A of the Act in
fulfillment of the purposes expressed in article XIII, section 2 of
the Illinois Constitution of 1970. Ill. Const. 1970, art. XIII, 2.
That section provides:
"All candidates for or holders of state offices and
all members of a Commission or Board created by this
Constitution shall file a verified statement of their
economic interests, as provided by law. The General
Assembly by law may impose a similar requirement upon
candidates for, or holders of, offices in units of local
government and school districts." Ill. Const. 1970, art.
XIII, 2.
The section sharply distinguishes "All *** state offices and all
members of a Commission or Board created by this Constitution" from
"offices in units of local government." Ill. Const. 1970, art.
XIII, 2. For the former group, the constitution itself imposes a
filing requirement; for the latter group, the constitution only
permits the General Assembly to impose a similar requirement. See
Stein v. Howlett, 52 Ill. 2d 570, 578-79, 289 N.E.2d 409 (1972).
The constitution defines "[u]nits of local government" to include
counties (Ill. Const. 1970, art. VII, 1) and expressly acknowledges
members of county boards as holders of offices in units of local
government (Ill. Const. 1970, art. VII, 3).
In article 4A of the Act, the General Assembly both clarified
the filing requirements for state officers constitutionally required
to file economic interest statements and enacted filing requirements
for local officers as permitted by the second sentence of the
constitution's article XIII, section 2. Mirroring the
constitutional language, the Act states:
"The following persons shall file verified written
statements of economic interests, as provided in this
Article:
***
(c) Members of a Commission or Board created by the
Illinois Constitution, and candidates for nomination or
election to such Commission or Board.
***
(g) Persons who are elected to office in a unit of
local government, and candidates for nomination or
election to that office, including regional
superintendents of school districts." 5 ILCS 420/4A-101
(West 1996).
The Act adopts the constitution's definition of "[u]nit of local
government." 5 ILCS 420/1-120 (West 1996).
Section 4A-102 of the Act establishes distinct requirements for
filings by persons required to file under subsection (c) and those
required to file under subsection (g). Persons seeking state
offices, including those described in subsection (c), must list
ownership in, or positions with, any legal entity doing business in
the state. Persons seeking local offices, including those described
in subsection (g), must list ownership in, or positions with, any
entity doing business with the unit of local government. 5 ILCS
420/4A-102 (West 1996); see Stein, 52 Ill. 2d at 579. Section 4A-
103 presents the form persons seeking state offices must file, and
section 4A-104 presents the form for persons seeking local offices.
5 ILCS 420/4A-103, 4A-104 (West 1996). According to section 4A-106:
"The statements of economic interests required of
persons listed in items (a) through (f) and item (j) of
Section 4A-101 shall be filed with the Secretary of
State. The statements of economic interests required of
persons listed in items (g), (h), (i), (k), and (l) of
Section 4A-101 shall be filed with the county clerk of
the county in which the principal office of the unit of
local government with which the person is associated is
located." 5 ILCS 420/4A-106 (West 1996).
Here, petitioner filed papers as a candidate for nomination to
the office of member of the Cook County Board of Commissioners. The
constitution expressly defines membership in a county board as an
office in a unit of local government. Ill. Const. 1970, art. VII,
1, 3. Therefore, section 4A-106 required petitioner to meet the
explicit requirements for filings by persons included under section
4A-101(g).
Petitioner contends that section 4A-101(g) does not apply
because members of the Cook County Board of Commissioners are not
officers "in a unit of local government." He relies on Winokur v.
Rosewell, 83 Ill. 2d 92, 414 N.E.2d 724 (1980). There incumbent
board members voted themselves a salary increase after they had been
reelected but before the new term began. Taxpayers argued that the
raise violated article VII, section 9(b), of the Illinois
Constitution of 1970, which provided that any pay raises for
officers of local government would not take effect during the term
for which the officer is elected. Our supreme court held that the
constitution did not purport to change the established practice of
setting compensation for a new term after election but before
commencement of the new term. Winokur, 83 Ill. 2d at 100-01.
Therefore the court found that the pay raises did not violate the
constitution.
Winokur provides no support for petitioner's position. The
court treated the Cook County board like any other county board,
with no reliance on legislation or constitutional provisions
specially pertaining to Cook County. The case effectively confirms
that article VII includes Cook County as a unit of local government
and members of the county board as officers in such a unit. Section
4A-101(g) applies to the office petitioner seeks. Petitioner needed
to file the form in section 4A-104 with the county clerk. 5 ILCS
420/4A-102, 4A-106 (West 1996).
Instead petitioner filed the form in section 4A-103 with the
Secretary of State. Petitioner argues that the Act requires such
filing because the constitution's article VII "created" the county
board and therefore candidates for membership on the board must meet
the requirements of section 4A-101(c), including the filing of the
form in section 4A-103 with the Secretary of State. 5 ILCS 420/4A-
102, 4A-106 (West 1996).
Article XIII of the constitution limits the meaning of "offices
*** created by this Constitution" and distinguishes such offices
from "offices in units of local government." Ill. Const. 1970, art
XIII, 2. Article VII establishes members of county boards as
officers in units of local government. The Act adopts the
constitution's definition of the offices. The office petitioner
seeks is not an office created by the constitution within the
meaning of the constitution or the Act.
Finally, petitioner argues that the Electoral Board exceeded
its jurisdiction when it determined that he filed the wrong form for
the economic interests statement. In Troutman v. Keys, 156 Ill.
App. 3d 247, 509 N.E.2d 453 (1987), the trial court enjoined the
Electoral Board from placing a candidate's name on the ballot,
because the court found the candidate made false statements in the
form concerning economic interests. The parties agreed that the
Electoral Board lacked authority to review the content of the
statement of economic interests. The Illinois Election Code (Ill.
Rev. Stat. 1985, ch. 46, par. 1-1 et seq.) required the candidate
to file the interests statement with one office and the nomination
papers, with a receipt for the ethics statement, in a separate
office. Troutman, 156 Ill. App. 3d at 251. The Electoral Board
could not review the content of the interests statement because the
reviewable nomination papers included only the receipt, not the
statement. See Welch v. Johnson, 147 Ill. 2d 40, 46, 588 N.E.2d 1119 (1992).
Here, however, both the nomination papers and the statement of
economic interests must be filed in the same office. Petitioner,
by filing the nomination papers with the county clerk, effectively
admitted that the clerk's office is the proper place for filing
those papers. Section 4A-106 mandates filing of the statement of
economic interests with the same office. Thus, in this case, the
nomination papers must include the statement itself, and not a
receipt from a different office. 10 ILCS 5/10-5 (West 1996). Under
the reasoning of Troutman and Welch, the Electoral Board may review
the statement, at least to assure that the candidate has filed the
proper form.
The Electoral Board did not exceed its jurisdiction by looking
at petitioner's filings to determine that he filed the incorrect
form in the improper office. The finding justified the board's
decision not to include petitioner's name on the ballot. Havens v.
Miller, 102 Ill. App. 3d 558, 567-68, 429 N.E.2d 1292 (1981).
Section 4A-106 of the Act unambiguously requires, for the local
office petitioner seeks, filing of the statement of economic
interests as shown in section 4A-104 with the county clerk. The
Electoral Board correctly exercised its jurisdiction to find that
petitioner filed the wrong form with the wrong office. Accordingly,
we affirm the trial court's judgment affirming the board's decision.
Affirmed.
RAKOWSKI and COUSINS, JJ., concur.