The Shields Township electoral board ordered the name of Kathleen Blahunka, a candidate for township supervisor, removed from the April general election ballot after a township employee filed an objection to her nomination papers.
Blahunka takes issue with the electoral board’s findings, arguing she had, “substantial compliance with the law.” She has a follow-up hearing later this month. The remaining supervisor candidate is Kamila Urso, the wife of outgoing Shields Township Supervisor Jeff Urso.
Two other candidates running for Shields trustee positions connected to Blahunka, part of the self-named Anti-Corruption Party, were also removed over paperwork issues. While she’s challenging the board’s finding on her papers, Blahunka said she made mistakes on the paperwork for the two trustee candidates, Anthony Pierri and Catherine Oliver Salbilla.
“It was my fault. We did it really quickly,” she said. “I take responsibility. I just screwed up. I feel bad.”
According to case documents, Donald Rogers filed an objection to Blahunka’s nomination papers in November. Rogers is an employee of Shields Township. The objection, with which the board concurred, alleges her petition signature sheets are invalid because they failed to contain her full home address by not including her town.
The documents said that according to “uncontradicted testimony,” Blahunka’s petitions were circulated at a Vote Lake Bluff event, which focuses on supporting candidates residing within the Lake Bluff, Knollwood or Arden Shore area.
Blahunka is not a resident of those municipalities, although according to the Vote Lake Bluff website, her husband Paul is chair of the Vote Lake Bluff committee.
Rogers argued the documents purposefully misled residents.
“I’ve been involved in helping and working with candidates, both Republican and Democrat, for over 20 years, I’ve never seen anybody do this on a petition. It’s clearly done with intent,” Rogers said. “That’s why we challenged it … and the electoral board agreed.”
Blahunka pushed back against the accusation, saying she believed she had, “substantial compliance with the law.”
“We didn’t get petitions in North Chicago because we couldn’t find anyone who wanted to be involved with us,” she said. “They’re saying that people didn’t know where the address is from, and we misled them. But no one asked us. Over 300 people signed our petitions, and no one asked about the addresses.”
The challenge and subsequent removal order is the latest event in a feud between Blahunka and township leadership going back years. Blahunka and her mother Janice Schnobrich are regulars at township meetings, openly criticizing township leadership.
Just last year, Blahunka and several other residents accused Jeff Urso and the township of maliciously placing speedhumps in front of the homes of residents that had spoken out against them. Urso had pushed back against the accusations, arguing they had been installed for pedestrian safety after a prior non-fatal child-strike incident, and had been generally supported by residents.
Urso was critical of Blahunka, who he accused of wasting taxpayer money through abuse of information requests and the most recent trial.
“We have a very small budget, and I think part of her strategy is to hit us with legal and other things through FOIAs so we don’t have the dollars to spend in the community,” Urso said. “That’s honestly how I feel.”
Blahunka for her part also accused Urso and Rogers of wasting taxpayer money with the candidacy challenge. With several months until the election, she said she hopes, “integrity prevails”.
“Their goal is to drag it out as long as possible, to cost me money,” Blahunka said. “The people fighting me are not running for office.”
