Monday, October 13, 2008

Terry Link Petition Scandal Reaches Other Races

If you thought you heard the last of the Terry Link petition scandal, think again. Link's petition woes are affecting down-ballot races, even such offices as Circuit Court Clerk. The Lake County News-Sun endorsed long-time incumbent clerk Sally Coffelt over her opponent, Cynthia Haran, stating that:

"What is simple for voters is the choice of Coffelt for clerk. Especially when Haran had some of her petitions of candidacy circulated by two men currently facing charges of forging petition signatures."

Ouch. The petition scandal wasn't enough to move the Pioneer Press from endorsing Link (although the News-Sun showed more courage), but the folks at Pioneer still took note:

"Still, we are troubled that two Link campaign workers were indicted recently for forging campaign signatures -- and the Democrat's explanation basically consisted of blaming Republicans."

Link's troubles aren't going away, and will continue to affect his race, and that of other candidates such as Haran, State's Attorney candidate Michael Jacobs, and Coroner Richard Keller, who also had petitions passed by the two indicted Link workers.

Of Jacobs, the News-Sun said that:

"[Lake County State's Attorney Michael] Waller has been a good state's attorney and his 18-year record in office is far superior to Democratic opponent Michael Jacobs, a Gurnee trustee and civil prosecutor in the Cook County State's Attorney's Office."

The News-Sun had further high praise for Waller:

"Waller has developed state-of-the-art programs to deal with violent crime, domestic violence, juvenile crime and cyber crime. He helped create the Lake County Major Crime Task Force. Waller has a long record of serving the citizens of Lake County and should be kept in office. He is endorsed."

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