Marathon Pundit: ILL-inois: Suburban school board has three felons on it

Saturday, June 01, 2013

ILL-inois: Suburban school board has three felons on it

This is why the Prairie State is now called ILL-inois.

From the Chicago Sun-Times:

Three members of a south suburban school board are felons — and the Cook County state's attorney's office is considering whether to seek their removal from office, the Chicago Sun-Times has learned.

Joe Louis Sherman, Mark Mitchell and James J. Coleman are members of Ford Heights Public School District 169. They have presided over an estimated budget of $8.8 million for the current school year.

Court records show that Sherman was convicted of battery and retail theft, Mitchell of marijuana possession, and Coleman of illegal possession of a gun — all felonies.

Elected school district officials are barred from holding office if they are "convicted in any court in the state of Illi:ois or of the United States of a felony, bribery, perjury or other infamous crime.” Last year, a state appeals court upheld a decision to bar a Peoria man from running for a school board seat because he was convicted of a felony. He was convicted of theft in 1984.