Challenges to petitions of two Aurora mayoral candidates in the 2025 city election could hinge on the candidates’ intentions.
The city electoral board Monday heard arguments from attorneys for both candidates and objectors in a meeting at Aurora City Hall.
Attorneys for candidates John Laesch, who is currently an alderman-at-large in Aurora, and Jazmine Garcia argued they were on legal footing to circulate nominating petitions for each other.
Attorney Kevin Morphew, for Garcia, said opponents collecting signatures for each other “might be unusual, but it’s not illegal.”
“Like-minded people can always work together to achieve common goals,” he said.
An objector to their petitions – Tara Loza, a campaign worker for incumbent Mayor Richard Irvin, through attorney John Fogarty – is trying to invalidate the signatures they collected, saying the candidates were working together with an ulterior motive in mind, rather than just running for office.
Fogarty called Jazmine Garcia a “straw” candidate and “a political actor,” saying she is running strictly to force a primary election.
“These candidates admit they are trying to work together … to defeat a common enemy,” Fogarty said. “So you can invalidate these signatures collected by an opponent.”
After the meeting, Garcia said she “absolutely” is running because she wants to be mayor. She said she represents a younger generation and a demographic – female and Latino – that deserves representation.
But she also praised Laesch’s candidacy and appeared to confirm what Fogarty said about the two working together.
“The common denominator is to get Republican Richard Irvin out,” she said.
For his part, Laesch said the “voters are going to decide” who they want as mayor, and that it should be left to them.
“Shouldn’t everyone have the right to run?” he said.
Attorneys for both sides quoted case law and election law to back up their beliefs.
Morphew said case law and election law do not prohibit candidates from circulating petitions for each other, particularly in non-partisan elections, such as city elections.
Fogarty quoted federal case law in defense of his claims, but Morphew said that federal law is “beyond the purview” of a city electoral board.
An attorney for Laesch, Ed Mullen, said election law gives specifics about when someone cannot circulate petitions, but does not mention independent candidates.
“There is no prohibition to circulate for two independent candidates,” Mullen said. “There is nothing at all in the election code that prevents a candidate from circulating for an opponent.”
At one point, Mullen had Garcia stand in the audience, pointing out she was present for the proceeding and “is a real person.”
“She signed a statement saying she is a legitimate candidate,” Morphew said.
Fogarty said he knows “Ms. Garcia is a real person.” But he questioned her motive for running.
“They want to have a primary for their own strategic aims,” Fogarty said.
In the case of Jazmine Garcia’s petitions, the board will look at objections to 160 specific signatures. A records survey has said that 77 of those signatures are questionable, which would leave Garcia with 525 signatures, less than the 542 needed to get on the ballot.
The electoral board will meet to look at that evidence again at 8 a.m. Nov. 25 in the council chambers at City Hall, 44 E. Downer Place, and likely render its decision at that point.
They also will make their decision on Laesch’s petitions. The objection to his rests strictly with whether the petitions are valid because of the way they were circulated. There are no specific signatures in question.
While there were no deliberations Monday, one electoral board member, Ald. Juany Garza, 2nd Ward, said she believes having candidates circulate petitions for each other is “confusing for the voters.”
“It’s like a lot of people don’t understand what’s going on here at this point,” Garza said.
Garza is on the electoral board for these petitions because they involve the mayoral race. Normally, the mayor would be on the board, but he must recuse himself because he is part of the mayoral race. Garza is on as the alderman with the second-most seniority.
The alderman with the most seniority, Ald. Michael Saville, 6th Ward, is already a member of the electoral board, by statute. The third member is City Clerk Jennifer Stallings. For the objections being heard for other races, Irvin will take his place on the board.
The board will hear testimony Wednesday for petition objections to mayoral candidate Karina Garcia, and on Friday for objections involving several aldermanic races.
slord@tribpub.com
