Scoop:Petition investigation leads to indictment

*This story, along with a couple others I wrote about it, eventually led to the indictment of GOP pollster Rod McCulloch in DuPage County. The case is still in the courts.

Township assessor defends petitions amid forgery claims
February 04 2005
James Fuller Daily Herald Staff Writer

If you believe Jim Gumm's nominating petitions for re-election as Milton Township assessor, he has the full support of Frank Haywood.

The Wheaton resident seems to support Gumm so much he signed Gumm's nominating petitions twice: once as Frank Haywood and again, directly below that, as Frank Hayward, at the same address.

The problem is the real Frank Haywood says he didn't pen either signature.

"Whoever did this was pretty dumb," he said. "If you're trying to hide something like two fake signatures, you'd think you'd bury them someplace other than one after the other."

That example, and possibly hundreds of others, are behind claims of fraud in a pending objection to Gumm's petitions.

If it proves true, Gumm could be booted off the April 5 ballot.

An unscientific check of the signatures suggests at least some might be false. Of eight people contacted, all said they never signed a Gumm petition.

A signature allegedly belonging to Scott Kozas seems particularly questionable. He's lived in Texas for the past year and a half, said his father, Michael, whose signature appears directly above on one petition.

"Jim Gumm? I don't even know who he is," Michael Kozas said.

Fellow Wheaton resident Wayne Hill also denied signing Gumm's petition.

"I don't even know where (Milton Township) is," Hill said.

Consultant Rod McCulloch obtained most of the nearly 750 signatures in question and said no one should be surprised by a few mistakes.

"There are errors on every set of petitions ever filed," he said.

McCulloch said he and a crew worked for four days during a snowstorm to get the names. He said he either personally obtained them or was within 15 feet of the signer.

It's not uncommon for someone to sign a fake name, McCulloch said. He's even seen rival campaigns send out people to sign phony names.

Keri-Lyn Krafthefer, the attorney for the objector, Joe Nesbitt, also noted that residents from the same streets appear on several different pages of petitions. That suggests an illogical effort of jumping block-to-block rather than door-to-door, she said.

McCulloch said those are the words of someone ignorant to the process.

"That's just stupid and a stupid complaint," he said. The multiple addresses are the result of workers taking breaks to get warm, he said. "For (them) to think that someone's going to walk for five hours on a street during a blizzard just shows the amateurishness of the complaint," he said. "It's just unfortunate that I've gotten caught up in this web of hatred they have for (Gumm)."

For his part, Gumm said he's certain the petitions circulated by 14 other volunteers are genuine.
What's really behind the objection, Gumm said, is politics. He said witnesses told him Milton Township Trustee Jim Flickinger submitted the objection with Nesbitt, though Flickinger's name does not appear on it.

Gumm said Flickinger wants to see him off the ballot so Flickinger can take credit for getting Gumm booted.

That effort began back when Gumm says Flickinger helped manufacture a sexual harassment claim against Gumm back in 2001. Flickinger is one of several defendants in a federal lawsuit Gumm filed, claiming a clandestine effort to smear his name to get him removed from office. All the defendants deny the allegations.

"This isn't going to stop until I walk away, and I'm not going to walk away," he said. "All I'm looking for is the opportunity to get on the ballot. Why not let the people make the choice?"

Flickinger declined to comment.

Gumm's ballot fate could be decided at a hearing, which will likely occur next week. The hearing panel would consist of township Supervisor Chris Heidorn, Clerk Arlene DeMotte and Trustee Barbara Murphy. But Murphy and Heidorn are also defendants in Gumm's suit. If they are dismissed or recuse themselves, the next most senior trustee, Ken McNatt, would replace one of them. But all trustees are potential witnesses in Gumm's federal suit.

If the township can't form its own hearing body, DuPage County Chief Judge Robert Kilander must appoint a hearing panel, said Doreen Nelson, assistant director of the DuPage election commission.

Nelson said the judge would possibly draw from members of the election commission's electoral board.