Another Alderman to run unopposed!!!!

Well, I done lost count. It's probably still less than ten, but Alderman Ed Burke over in the 14th Ward got his opponent knocked off the ballot. There was a story about her earlier and I'll link to that if I can find it. Still this is messed up and this wasn't the result of the Chicago Board of Elections knocking public school teacher Paloma Andrade off the ballot, Burke went to a judge to get her off. And with the judge he was successful apparently he hasn't faced competition in 37 years.

Here's a part of the story from CBS2Chicago...

“I'm going to continue with my campaign. This is not stopping me,” Andrade said. “They found the right judge to sustain the charges. And this is very unfair because there is conflict of interest.”

The judge decided that Andrade violated election law by not being present when signatures for her candidacy were being collected.

Andrade had registered to collect her own signatures, but she alleges that Burke flexed his political muscle to make sure he ran unopposed.

“There's rules, there's laws that have to be complied with. If her petitions didn't comply with the law, then so be it,” Burke said.

The Chicago Board of Elections had originally ruled in Andrade’s favor, but the Cook County judge overruled the decision.

“The testimony, sworn testimony before the board, was that she was in the car, but she could see the signer of the petition from the car. Is that in the presence of? We felt so,” said Langdon Neal of the Chicago Board of Elections.

Another technicality no different than what happened in the 48th Ward. Her name will still appear on the ballot with a notice that she is no longer a candidate for election. She is appealing the decision but may not have the time to do it successfully before the Feb. 27th municipal elections.

Running for a city council election in Chicago, you really better watch yourself!!!