Burr Ridge Mayor Beats Back Challenge To Candidacy

BURR RIDGE, IL — Burr Ridge Mayor Gary Grasso this week defeated a challenge to his election petition.

That means his name is set to appear as a mayoral candidate on the April 6 ballot. He is running unopposed.

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

In Burr Ridge, the challenge was filed by resident Steven Mueller. He filed to run for Village Board two years ago, but the village's electoral board barred him from the ballot.

One of the problems with Grasso's petition, Mueller said, was that it was not validly notarized because the notarization was dated "December 3, 2021," nearly a year into the future.

The village's electoral board unanimously rejected that argument.

"Everyone on the electoral board said that was a clerical error by the notary and not the responsibility of the person turning in the petition," Al Paveza, a village trustee who serves on the electoral board, said in an interview.

Mueller also pointed to a law that says the "heading of each sheet shall be the same" in the petition. Grasso's petition alternated between "Village President" and "Mayor/Village President."

When the town formed, Paveza said, the top elected official was called village president.

"Then we saw that so many towns around us had mayors, instead of presidents," Paveza said. "It was decided we wouldn't eliminate 'president,' but if the person wanted to be called 'mayor,' he would be called 'mayor.'"

Paveza said Mueller took that part of his challenge off the table.

Grasso hired attorney Tiffany Nelson Jaworksi, whose specialities include election law.

Mueller's attorney, Robert Windon, did not immediately return a message for comment on the outcome.

The electoral board was made up of Paveza, Trustee Guy Franzese and Clerk Sue Schaus.

A previous Patch story included details on the removal of Mueller from the 2018 ballot.