Mell Mistake May Cost Her House Seat
Possible address snafu
By STEVE RHODES
Updated 12:35 PM CST, Wed, Nov 11, 2009
Now Dick Mell's other daughter has stepped in it.
Deborah Mell - a Northwest Side state rep - is at risk of getting knocked off the ballot in her re-election bid because she is allegedly not registered to vote at the address listed on her nominating petitions. Oops!
“This is a very common amateur mistake," election attorney Richard Means told the Sun-Times. "But one would think as a sitting state legislator, she isn’t an amateur."
Have you met our legislature, Richard?
Anyway, Means, who is widely viewed in political circles as one of the best in his field, represents Mell's challenger, Joe Laiacona.
In a recent interview with the Windy City Times, Laicona took Mell to task for - among other things - telling the same publication that she didn't have the "time and staff" to read large reports. Maybe that's why she didn't know the extent of her brother-in-law Blago's misdeeds when she was the lone member of the House to vote against his impeachment.
(An aversion to reading must run in the family. "How many of us read the stuff we do get, OK?" Dick Mell said after voting in favor of leasing the city's parking meters despite having not read the actual agreement he was blessing.)
On the bright side for Deborah Mell, losing her House seat would give her more time to think about running for Congress. Or perhaps she can help her sister Patti write that jungle cookbook.
Her father runs the show anyway; he was the one arguing to Greg Hinz of Crain's that his daughter doesn't even have to be registered to vote to run for office, despite what the election rules say.
Hell, she doesn't even have to show up for work! Daddy will take care of everything.
Steve Rhodes is the proprietor of The Beachwood Reporter, a Chicago-centric news and culture review.
Copyright NBC Local Media
First Published: Nov 10, 2009 7:13 AM CST
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