Jones back on ballot in Cal City

Appeals court ruling reverses decision of judge, electoral board

A state appeals court has returned state Rep. Thaddeus Jones, D-Calumet City, to the ballot as he seeks to challenge Calumet City’s mayor in the Feb. 23 primary.

Thursday’s one-page ruling reverses a decision last month by a Cook County Circuit Court judge who upheld a municipal electoral board’s ruling knocking Jones from the ballot.

Jones, who is challenging Mayor Michelle MarkiewiczQualkinbush, said Thursday he did not stop campaigning after the electoral board decision or during the appeal process.

“I believed in God, I believed in the people,” he said. “I knew what the city was doing was not constitutional.”

A former Calumet City alderman, Jones has been in the General Assembly since 2011. He represents the 29th District, which extends from Chicago’s Pullman neighborhood south through Dolton, South Holland, Thornton, Glenwood, Ford Heights, Steger, Crete and Monee. He ran unopposed last November for another term.

Markiewicz-Qualkinbush has been Calumet City mayor since 2003.

A municipal electoral board in Calumet City composed of three attorneys who concentrate in election law and were appointed by the chief judge of the Cook County Circuit Court ruled in mid-December that Jones was ineligible to seek the mayor’s post.

The panel cited a referendum approved by Calumet City voters in November that appeared to make Jones ineligible.

Nearly 70% of voters casting ballots supported the binding measure which would prohibit

people from running for mayor if they also hold an elected office created by the state constitution.

Jones sued after the electoral board decision, and in her Jan. 22 decision Judge Maureen O. Hannon upheld the electoral panel’s ruling. The judge deemed the eligibility requirement adopted by Calumet City voters was sensible.

Jones was alderman in Calumet City’s 3rd Ward from 1997 to 2017, and he noted that he was serving both in Springfield and as a Calumet City alderman from 2010 to 2017.

Calumet City’s electoral board had initially convened Dec. 7. Usually, the electoral board consists of the community’s mayor, village or city clerk and the senior trustee or alderman.

While MarkiewiczQualkin bush had rec used herself from the proceedings, Jones had challenged the composition of the board, resulting in the request of the chief judge to appoint the three-member panel.