According to court documents, the men have been identified as Levi D. Barnes, 21, of 101 Grade School Dr., Apt. #3, Greenup, and Paul R. McCormick, 20, of 407 Main St., Toledo.

Barnes faces 60 felony counts while McCormick faces 19.

Both men are charged with Arson, Residential Burglary and Residential Arson of the following residences on the following dates: the residence belonging to J.B. Helmouth, located at 621 Wagon Rd., Greenup, on November 28, 2009; the residence belonging to Joe Nelson, located at 603 West Lincoln St., Greenup, on December 13, 2009; the residence of Bill Thomas, located at 3500 North County Road 2000 East, Greenup, on February 4, 2010 and the Arson of a storage barn on the same property owned by Thomas on March 10, 2010.

Barnes is charged with acting alone in the June 17, 2012 Arson, Residential Burglary and Residential Arson at the home of Tony Haney, located at 1373 Cumberland Road, Toledo and the July 13 Arson of a storage shed belonging to Bennie Hays, located at 1904 East County Road 500 North.

The pair are believed to have been acting together during the July 31, 2012 Arson, Residential Burglary and Residential Arson of the home of Donald Greeson, located at 408 County Road 1800 East, Greenup.

Barnes is said to have been acting alone during the September 17, 2012 Arson, Residential Burglary and Residential Arsons at the residence belonging to Carol Jo Fritts, located at 911 West Lincoln St., Greenup; the two October 1, 2012 Arsons of sheds belonging to Neal Ryan, located at 1594 County Road 1050 North, Toledo; the Oct. 5, 2012 Arson, Residential Burglary and Residential Arson at the residence of Jim Waldrip, located at 102 Grade School St., Greenup; the Oct. 9 and Oct. 11, 2012 Arsons, Residential Burglaries and Residential Arsons at the residence of Clinton Duvall, located at 601 Cincinnati St., Greenup; the Oct. 30, 2012 Arson, Residential Burglary and Residential Arson at the residence of Rose Mary Ozier, located at 306 South Mill St., Greenup; the November 12, 2012 Arson, Residential Burglary and Residential Arson at the residence of Tyler Wright, located at 506 East Elizabeth St., Greenup and on the same day Arson, Residential Burglary and Residential Arson, Aggravated Arson (for committing arson while knowing someone is inside the structure) at the dwelling place of James Cisney, located at 504 East Elizabeth St., Greenup; the Nov. 28, 2012 Arson, Residential Burglary and Residential Arson at the residence of Marilyn Lorance, located at 107 North Mill St., Greenup; the December 23, 2012 Arson, Residential Burglary and Residential Arson, back at the residence of Tyler Wright at 506 East Elizabeth St., Greenup and the Residential Burglary, Residential Arson and Aggravated Arson back at the James Cisney dwelling, located at 504 East Elizabeth St., Greenup.

Barnes and McCormick were said to have been working back together January 16 in the Arson, Residential Burglary and Residential Arson of the residence of Dan Carr, located at 315 East Illinois St., Greenup.

Authorities believe that Barnes was back to acting alone Jan. 28 when he committed the offenses of Arson, Residential Burglary and Residential Arson at the dwelling place of Russell Harris, located at 111 East Pleasant St., Greenup, owned by Marilyn Lorance.

The pair was allegedly working together during the Feb. 25 Arson, Residential Burglary and Residential Arson at the home of Marilyn Lorance, located at 1868 County Road 350 North, Greenup.

Despite press releases by the Illinois State Police (who investigated the alleged crimes) and wealth of information about the technicalities of the alleged incidents, no one has offered even the slightest explanation of what possessed the two to allegedly become firebugs, be it money offered, insurance payouts, base hatred for those who owned the dwellings or just the joy of seeing a place go up in flames.

Both Barnes and McCormick are being held on $100,000 cash bond.

On February 26, 2013, the Illinois State Police Zone 7 General Criminal Investigations Unit arrested Levi Barnes, 21, of Greenup, and Paul McCormick, 23, of Toledo, for aggravated arson and residential arson. Barnes and McCormick are accused of being responsible for setting more than 20 fires in and around the Greenup area. Barnes and McCormick are being held at the Cumberland County Detention Center pending an appearance before a judge.

The Illinois State Police were assisted in the investigation by the Greenup Police Department, the State Marshall’s Office and Cumberland County Sheriff’s Office.

Barnes and McCormick are presumed innocent until proven guilty.

Good work, ISP, Greenup, Cumberland County and state fire marshal!

According to officials, on or about January 15, Bradley Duane Will, 34, of 13499 East 1750th Ave., Newton and 21-year-old David S. Montgomery of 209 Northwest Third St., Casey entered the home of Steven Tracy at 899 County Road 200 North, Montrose at a time when they knew he was present and intentionally caused injury to Mr. Tracy.

The formal charge indicates the men are said to have “stuck Steven Tracy in the face” when it is believed the intent was to say “struck.”

Risking criminal charges?

Disclosure has begun to find numerous errors within criminal records in the Cumberland County courthouse, many within the confines of the circuit clerk’s office lorded over by Golda Dunn who has been there so long she not only could qualify but actually looks somewhat like a piece of furniture.

The discovery of those records could very well explain why Ms. Dunn has started violating state statute and is now refusing to allow the public to view certain criminal records.

She has gone as far as removing records from the public computer terminal.

More recently she ordered her staff to take markers and black out obvious public information such as dates of birth and adult names in police reports.

It is not clear why Dunn would risk criminal charges, fines and/or jail by taking such drastic and obviously illegal steps.

Some of her critics claim the foul disposition and sudden bend toward secrecy may indicate she has something to hide.

Others say this isn’t exactly a deviation from the norm and that Dunn has always been spiteful unless it was election season.

Missing bond sheet

Will and Montgomery are both charged with one count each of Home Invasion after they allegedly “stuck” Mr. Tracy in the face with their fists, Intimidation after they threatened to shoot Tracy with a .45 caliber handgun if he called police, Mob Action for allegedly using force and violence to enter upon the property of Mr. Tracy and then inflicting injury upon him and Battery alleging they “stuck” Tracy in the face.

Montgomery also faces one count of Criminal Damage to Property alleging that he knowingly damaged the property of Don Clark in that he threw Tracy into drywall and caused a dent, damage valued at less than $300.

According to court documents (the ones Ms. Dunn wasn’t hiding, anyway), Montgomery was released from custody Jan. 24 after a $10,000 cash bond was posted on his behalf by Amanda Montgomery of 305 Northwest 3rd St., Casey.

Although the bond sheet was missing from Dunn’s office, Disclosure learned with a phone call to that same office that Mr. Will was released from custody the next day, Jan. 25, after a $10,000 cash bond was posted on his behalf by an Alfred Will.

“Hates” Disclosure

“Why she would go and stick her neck out like this I just don’t know,” said one of her staff members. “I know she hates you Disclosure people and thinks you shouldn’t be doing what you are doing. She says it’s none of your business.”

When asked if all the bond money was going where it was supposed to, the staff member stopped talking and walked off.

Financially upside-down?

In an unrelated case, it looks like newly-elected state’s attorney Jonathan Braden doesn’t mind spending a few extra hundred dollars to bring a convict already in prison back to town to answer for the crime of drunk driving. According to court documents, back on November 10, 2012 Robert D. Livingston, 68, of 405 7th Ave., Lyndon, was committing the offense of Driving While License Revoked when he cruised a 1998 Pontiac Sunfire near the 200 block of Cumberland Street, in Greenup.

An order commanding the presence of Mr. Livingston before Judge Millard Everhart was issued Jan. 22 to Stateville Correctional Center Warden Marcus Hardy.

Taxpayers will also be paying for the time both officer Bob Dunst and Greenup Police Chief Bill Cline spend testifying, not to mention the cost of the county housing and feeding and watering Mr. Livingston.

Looking a lot like the type of case counties end up financially upside-down on, the best that could be hoped for is an extended sentence behind bars to go along with Livingston’s current sentence for some unknown crime, the details of which were also not available at circuit clerk Golda Dunn’s office.

According to court documents, Michael Allen Lemons, 24, of 114 County Road 1800 East, has been charged with five counts of Aggravated Criminal Sexual Abuse claiming that he had sex with a female victim who was at least 13 years of age, but under the age of 17, during the months of November and December 2012.

Lemons is also charged with three counts of Possession of Child Pornography alleging that on Dec. 26, the day of his arrest, he possessed photographs on his cell phone of a child he knew to be under the age of 18 years who was portrayed in a pose involving a lewd exhibition of the unclothed fully developed breast of the victim.

Defense attorney Shon Park filed a Motion to Suppress Jan. 25, claiming that Greenup Chief of Police James W. Cline illegally seized Lemons’ phone.

In chief Cline’s report he stated: “On 12/28/12 at 10:10 a.m. I took Michael A. Lemons into custody for Child Pornography and Aggravated Criminal Sexual Abuse and took his phone for evidence.”

Park’s contention, which is consistent with a Supreme Court’s recent decision (September 2012), is that cell phones are not automatically considered evidence just because its owner is under arrest.

Further, going through an individual’s phone without a warrant is illegal, not to mention charging them with whatever may be found on said phone without a warrant in place first.

In 2010, the police chief of Harrisburg illegally dug through a young man’s stolen cell phone (which the chief knew to be stolen, as it had been reported as such) and in the wake of threats of criminal charges over what was allegedly found there, the young man stressed out and ultimately was involved in a vehicle accident that claimed his life.

There has been no word, as of yet, as to whether or not the boy’s family will sue the city of Harrisburg.

One source close to the family claimed if the Harrisburg chief would resign they would not sue.

It remains to be seen how the judge in the Lemons case will rule on the admissibility of the cell phone photographs.

Lemons is currently being held on $10,000 cash bond.

Authorities say on or about September 29, 2012, Stacy L. Wilson, 26; Donald W. Wilson, 31, and Michael W. Bussell, 30, all of 110 Maroon St., Dietrich, possessed less than five grams of meth, a pipe with the intent it be used to inhale cannabis into their body, a Coleman fuel can, pipe cleaning fluid, propane and coffee filters with the intent it would be used to manufacture meth.

Both men are also alleged to have concealed physical evidence from officer Todd Ziegler in that they threw items from a van into a cornfield adding a charge of one count of Obstructing Justice for each of them. Mr. and Ms. Wilson were both also served active warrants December 27, 2012, out of Effingham County on undetermined charges.

Mr. Bussell was released January 8, 2012, after Anita Bussell posted a $3,000 cash bond on his behalf.

As of press time Mr. and Ms. Wilson remain in custody at the Cumberland County Sheriff’s Department with a cash bond set in the amount of $3,000 for Mr. Wilson and $2,000 cash bond set for Ms. Wilson.

Authorities say on March 21, Albert H. Mahnke, 52, of P.O. Box 65, Stewardson; Bradley E. Mahnke, 53, and Nicholas D. Mahnke, 20, of RR 1 Box 125, Mode, knowingly and without authority entered a building belonging to Martin Tegeler and knowingly exerted unauthorized control over a lawn mower having a total value not exceeding $500.

Albert Mahnke received a second Burglary and Theft charge when, police say on April 26, 2012 he returned to Mr. Tegeler’s building and took a garden tiller having a total value of less than $500.

On Dec. 28, 2012 Nicholas and Bradley Mahnke were released from custody after Jason Rentfro, of RR 1 Box 169, Mode, posted a $3,000 cash bond for each of them.

Albert Mahnke was released Dec. 27, 2012 after a $3,000 cash bond was posted on his behalf by Carrie Mahnke, of the same Stewardson address.

All three are expected back in court January 28 at 10 a.m.

Someone else’s debit card

In an unrelated case Heather R. Davis, 51, of 114 W. Plum St., Hazel Dell, has been charged with Unlawful Possession of Another’s Debit Card.

Authorities say on or about October 5, Ms. Davis possessed a debit card belonging to Heidi Green, without the consent of Ms. Green, with the intent to use the debit card.

A warrant was issued December 24, with a cash bond set in the amount of $500.

Neoga burglary

Two men have been charged in connection with the Neoga burglary.

Police say on November 8, Terrence A. McGuire, 21, of 64 Lakeview, Gays, and Joseph D. Bialeschki, 21, of 734 Locust Ave., Neoga, knowingly and without authority entered a building of Gary Hartke, with intent to commit a theft.

Mr. Bialeschki received a second charge of Obstructing Justice when he is said to have knowingly furnished false information to Neoga Police Chief Jon Julius.

McGuire’s cash bond was set in the amount of $2,500 while Bialeschki’s cash bond was set in the amount of $3,000.

According to police reports, Jason R. Houser, 38, of 705A South Meridian, Toledo has been charged with two counts of Unlawful Possession of a Weapon By a Felon.

Authorities say at approximately 4 p.m. on November 28, police received a call from Mr. Houser’s wife, Lotte Houser, who told of a text she had received from her husband stating he may be contemplating injury to himself or suicide.

Sheriff Stephen F. Ozier and a deputy started to make their way to Mr. Houser’s residence located in Toledo.

As the officers were en route one of them contacted Lotte Houser by telephone and asked if there were weapons inside the residence.

She said there were two rifles and one shotgun in the bedroom.

Upon arrival sheriff Ozier knocked on the front door of the residence several times before Mr. Houser answered.

He let the officer in and one of them asked he had been consuming alcohol.

Houser said, “No”.

When officers looked in the kitchen they found an empty beer can in the garbage.

In one of the bedroom’s they observed two open 24 ounce Keystone Light beer cans and an empty fifth of Nikolai vodka sitting on the chest of drawers.

When one of the lawmen picked up one of the cans of beer and it was cold.

They also saw two rifles up against the wall along with one shotgun by a door in a corner.

On the bed they found inside of a small shopping bag another fifth of Nikolai vodka and one 24 ounce Coors Light can, cold.

There was another fifth of Nikolai vodka inside a clothesbasket.

Houser was advised he was being taken into custody for Violation of Probation for possession of alcoholic liquor and possession of firearms.

He was transported to the Cumberland County Detention Center.

In May 1999, Mr. Houser was charged for nine counts of a Bad Check for less than $150, which was reduced to a misdemeanor Bad Check.

Houser served a sentence of two years probation, was ordered to pay restitution and pay a total of $1,675.56 of which he’s paid nothing.

He was arrested a second time in May 1999 and charged with Residential Burglary, Theft less than $300, three counts of Forgery/Make/Alter Document.

After being convicted of the theft charge another year of probation was added to the sentence he was already serving.

In September 2009, Houser was charged for Aggravated Driving Under the Influence and Driving While License Revoked or Suspended.

He was found guilty on both charges and sentenced to two years probation, 300 hours of public service and ordered to pay a total of $3,901 of which he still owes $240.

Houser was released from custody December 5, after Teresa Houser posted a $2,000 cash bond on his behalf.

According to court documents, Michele A. Livingston, 49, of 405 7th Ave., Lyndon has been charged with Obstructing Justice, Unlawful Possession of Cannabis more than 2.5 grams less than 10 grams and Unlawful Possession of Drug Paraphernalia.

Authorities say on November 10, at approximately 2:45 p.m., an officer from the Toledo police department was advised there was a red Pontiac Sunfire coming towards Greenup on Rt. 121.

A routine check showed the owner of the vehicle, Michele A. Livingston, was wanted from Whiteside County on two warrants.

A traffic stop was executed in the 200 Block West Cumberland Ave.

When the officer approached the vehicle the driver, Robert D. Livingston, of Box 143, Lyndon, immediately said his license was revoked.

The officer advised then advised Robert Livingston and his passenger that the registration came back showing the owner of the vehicle was ‘wanted.’

The female passenger fit the description, but when the officer asked her name she said she was Deborah Schweska with a date of birth being October 30, 1964.

The Schweska identity

The officer told the purported Ms. Schweska she fit the description of the owner of the Pontiac, Michele Livingston, then asked if he could look inside her purse.

After she consented, the officer found an Illinois I.D. identifying her as Michele A. Livingston with a date of birth showing Dec. 3, 1963.

Along with the I.D., the officer found a bag of marijuana and drug paraphernalia on the console in plain sight.

When asked why she lied, Livingston said because she thought there might be warrants for her arrest.

One of Ms. Livingston’s warrants out of Whiteside County is for a Violation of Probation on a Driving While Licensed Revoked or Suspended conviction from April 2011.

On that conviction Livingston had served a sentence of 90 days in jail and was ordered to pay a total of $1,291 in fines and fees, of which she still owes $50.

She was also sentenced to 30 months of probation, which appears to be the violation she was wanted on when she apparently lied to the officer. Livingston was released from the Cumberland County jail Nov. 13 after a $150 cash bond was posted on her behalf by Robert Livingston.

According to reports, on November 11 at approximately 5:35 p.m., Greenup officer Cedric Woodrum saw a female walking north on S. Franklin St., in Greenup.

When he stopped and asked if everything was okay she said she was going to meet a friend at a gas station at which time Woodrum asked her if she needed a ride.

She said her name was Cassandra Beccue and accepted the officer’s offer to take her to the Philips 66 gas station.

En route officer Woodrum asked her again if everything was okay and Beccue told him that her boyfriend had choked her and told her he would kill her if she called the cops.

The officer noticed Beccue had red marks in the shape of fingers on her neck.

As the officer drove on Beccue said she was starting to have difficulty swallowing.

Woodrum asked if she needed medical treatment and she said no.

Officer Woodrum asked her if she wanted to report the man who choked her for domestic battery and she said she didn’t know.

At the gas station Beccue got out of the car and went inside.

After a few minutes passed she returned and told the officer she was interested in filing a domestic battery report.

 Stops breathing

On her written statement form given her by officer Woodrum Ms. Beccue said she was at a friends apartment when her boyfriend Norman J. Stanton, 38, of 302 W. Wylde Dr., came to her friends apartment, uninvited, and chocked her.

She said Stanton told her he would kill her if she called the cops and then he left.

When Beccue finished filling out her statement she told officer Woodrum that it was getting harder to swallow.

Woodrum asked her if she wanted him to call an ambulance and at that second Beccue fell backward onto the ground, began seizing and became unresponsive.

The officer contacted emergency medical immediately and an ambulance was dispatched.

While waiting for medical help to arrive, Beccue stopped breathing at least twice.

When the ambulance arrived she was breathing and was transported from the scene to a nearby hospital where she was admitted but remained unresponsive.

Woodrum said he got statements from witnesses at her friend’s apartment saying that Mr. Stanton barged in the apartment and choked Ms. Beccue.

The door was unlocked?

Woodrum and two other officers went to 605 N. Franklin and arrested Mr. Stanton on charges of Home Invasion and Aggravated Domestic Battery.

When Woodrum told Stanton he was being arrested for Home Invasion Mr. Stanton asked, “how is it breaking in when the door was unlocked?”

Stanton was transported to the Cumberland County Sheriff’s Department where at 8:01 p.m. he was read his Miranda rights then asked if he wanted to talk about the incident between him and Ms. Beccue.

Stanton said he wanted to consult with his attorney and the interview was concluded.

Stanton was housed in the county jail on $3,000 cash bond.

In September 2009, Mr. Stanton was charged for Obstructing Justice/Destroying Evidence, Resisting a Peace Officer and Fleeing or Attempting to Elude a Peace Officer.

Police reports indicate that Ms. Beccue was present (who knows if it was of her own will) in Stanton’s vehicle when he was fleeing from police.

Stanton was convicted on the resisting and fleeing charges and sentenced to two years probation, 50 days public service, ordered to undergo medical/mental/drug treatment and pay a total of $2,205 in fines and fees of which he still owes $605.

Unlawful restraint charged in May

On May 4 of this year Stanton was arrested and charged with two counts of Unlawful Restraint and Domestic Battery making Physical Contact.

That case remains ongoing and Stanton was out on bail on those charges when police say he choked Beccue, leading to her seizure.

A motion has been filed to revoke bail.

If Mr. Stanton somehow makes his way out of his cage the terms of that release include he have no contact with Ms. Beccue.

Stanton has also been charged with Aggravated Fleeing or Attempting to Elude a Peace Officer following an incident on or about Sept. 15.

Whining from jail 

On Nov. 30, what with the time he had on his hands, it appears Mr. Stanton put pen to paper and wrote about what a good guy he is and whined about his public defender.

“I am writing in regard to my defence. There is a multitude of concerns I have. Not the least of which is the difficulty I have even contacting Mrs. Terese Mathews. While she has been appointed for some time there has been almost zero communication. I have never received any discovery, nor do I believe she has requested any.

“She has her telephone number blocked from collect calls making it nearly impossible to communicate with her from jail. Also, it took the sheriff’s dept. several days to even establish a mailing address for Mrs. Mathews. She seems more concerned with what she hears and/or reads about me, than information I possess.”

BooHoo

“Also, she has never attempted to contact any of my witnesses. The only advice I have ever received from her was to waive, waive, waive. Which bring me to yet another concern. The last of the nearly non-existant communication we had, left me with the understanding that she was seeking to withdraw on Nov. 26th. She is always dismissive and appears to dislike me.

“Apparently, I am the talk of the town with my new charges. Other inmates have been told by their attorneys that they are no-longer Cumberland Co.’s main concern, I am! Over the last two years of me earning this coveted title, I have managed to turn my teenagers ‘D’ average, having been removed from public school, into a ‘B’ average w/a diploma!

“While I may never win ‘father of the year,’ or ‘spouse of the year’ everything I have done, was with the best of intentions. Therefore, I am left to wonder if I can get an adequate defense or even a fair trial.

“Respectfully, Norman J. Stanton”.

A pre-trial has been set for January 7 at 10 a.m.

CUMBERLAND CO.—Jonathan Braden took office as Cumberland County state’s attorney with a number of people in both the Republican and Democrat parties grumbling mightily…and not just because Braden was the Independent candidate.

As it turns out, the mighty grumbling was arising from a group of people who had been aware for a number of weeks, if not months, that Braden may have been in violation of a new Illinois House Bill that purportedly prohibited him from running at all.

But a concentrated look at the bill (not a law, oddly enough; merely a bill that was said to be “effective immediately after passing” that amends an existing Illinois Compiled Statute, 10 ILCS 5/7-43, “Elections—Party Switching”) shows that it’s totally subjective as to whether Braden A) violated it and B) even knew of its existence when he filed a petition for candidacy in Cumberland County.

Opponents of Braden’s success at the ballot box—a few thousand in Cumberland County, who cast votes for incumbent Republican Barry Schaefer (1,976 votes) and Democrat Shon Park (1,002)—are the most outspoken critics of the situation.

However, they may also be the most ill-informed and merely whining along party lines, as there has been no official challenge to Braden’s victory, and most importantly, no challenge arose during the challenging time period at all—which concluded in July of this year.

Seeks to limit third-party influence?

The bill provides that a person who filed a statement of candidacy as an established political party’s candidate at a general primary or voted at an established political party’s general primary may not file a statement of candidacy as an independent candidate or as a different party’s candidate at the immediately following general election.

A person, it states, may file a statement of candidacy for a partisan office (Republican or Democrat) as a qualified primary voter of an established political party regardless of any prior filing of candidacy for a partisan office or voting the ballot of an established political party at any prior election.

The amendment to the law went into effect March 30, 2012. It was apparently designed to further suffocate the chances of an Independent or third-party (Green Party or Constitution Party, as an example of other nationwide parties) candidate from emerging in a state whose largely-Republican voting base, at least across a wider expanse of land mass, is already suffocated by a small handful of counties (Cook, Will, Dupage, Champaign, Madison and St. Clair) where Democrat voters stacked one atop the other outweigh and overwhelm chances of Republicans ascending to any meaningful office in the state.

Fussing over vote cast

Opponents of Braden’s have been shrieking to high heaven since the days following the election that Braden, an attorney only since May 2011, knew or should have known exactly what he was doing by filing as an Independent in the election for state’s attorney, as, in the March 20, 2012 Primary, he pulled a Republican ballot.

They reason, therefore, that he should NOT have been allowed to circulate a petition, receive enough signatures, and file to run as an Independent in the November General Election because he’d voted as a Republican—a “partisan office” or “an established political party.”

The dates, however, tell the first tale.

The Primary was held 10 days before the “law” went into effect.

Even if Braden had somehow been fully advised of the new rules when he went to file candidacy—which was very unlikely, as many legislators slip these rules and laws into existing statutes exactly that way, hoping someone will violate them and accrue more fines and fees for the state—Braden has told the media since that he would have challenged any challenge to his candidacy, primarily because he believes the new rule is unconstitutional.

Here’s how the Constitution applies

And it might very well be…because in the state of Illinois, there are no other parties in Primary races besides Republican or Democrat except under very stringent circumstances (such as if two Independent candidates file for an office; and under that situation, a special ballot may have to be drawn up, but the likelihood is a slim one, and there’s little point of reference in the state of Illinois to draw upon under this imaginary circumstance.)

If a person wishes to vote—which is a right, under the Primary situation, as other local elected offices are up for a vote, and this country is still a representative Republic, not a Democracy—yet wishes to run for office as an Independent or other party candidate, this “law” precludes them from being able to cast their vote in a Primary race if the office they’re seeking will be voted upon in the same election cycle.

That in and of itself is unconstitutional, as the Constitution is what mandates how a representative Republic’s representatives are selected.

No objections

Further, the voting populace had an opportunity to file an objection to Braden’s candidacy, but failed to do so.

For them to use the argument that “they didn’t know about the law” runs contrary to Braden’s opponents using the same argument—if they didn’t know about it, why should they expect him to know about it?

No objections were filed—including by the other two candidates, one of whom was the sitting state’s attorney and would actually be the person to prosecute such a violation of the law if there were one—by the end of the objection period in July, and Braden, by this time aware of the “law” but ready to challenge it on constitutionality, found himself the certified Independent candidate and on his way to the election, unhindered by anyone’s concerns, valid or not.

Furthermore, upon his win, he now can’t be removed, as it’s an administrative law which can’t be applied retroactively to someone who has been duly voted into the position.

Ridiculous critics

Critics are fuming, however.

The fumings are so petty that they’ve sunk to the suggestion that because Braden has only been practicing as a lawyer for a little over a year, he shouldn’t have been “allowed” to run for such an important office as state’s attorney to begin with.

With the ridiculous state of legislation and litigation the state of Illinois is in, however, such gripes, if acted upon, could bring a whole new plethora of laws and rules fit to strangle even the most minor of positions from having candidates seek them.

And lawyers are already an elite, ruling class in the state of Illinois, who, unlike neighboring Indiana, is required to have only law-licensed attorneys act as judges (in Indiana, there are still judges who can come from the proletariat, and they run and are elected to the bench just like other political offices, as they were in Illinois until just a few decades back).

Disclosure spoke briefly with Braden in late November and he expressed that he felt secure in the legality of his office, and didn’t believe any challenges would arise; he was eager to get on with the business of being the peoples’ attorney and defending them in crimes against their persons and property, which is his job.

Sadly, he’s in the minority in east-central and downstate Illinois with his intentions, as so many lawyers, upon ascension to the position of state’s attorney, see that as a stone’s throw away from becoming a judge, and spend their entire tenure driving toward just that instead of representing the unfortunate among them that they take an oath to help.

Cumberland should be glad they have someone focused on the job at hand instead of trying to tear him down in the way that only Illinois politics can.