Remember the General Parker vs. Kevin Lyon case...

A refresher:

John "General" Parker filed suit in U.S. District Court in Peoria claiming Lyons, School Board member Debbie Wolfmeyer and judges worked against him to ensure he could not run as a candidate in April, 2011.

Parker was bounced from the ballot Feb. 23 after Circuit Judge Scott Shore found he was ineligible to run for the board because of prior felony convictions. He appealed to the 3rd District Appellate Court in Ottawa, which did not take the matter in an expedited fashion.

The suit asks a judge to rule Parker is eligible to run for any office as well as to strike down existing Illinois law that blocks felons from running for municipal office or school boards.

The suit also seeks to nullify Wolfmeyer's election to the board last spring and to award Parker $250,000 in damages. In his suit, Parker alleges Wolfmeyer's petition to run for School Board contained several invalid signatures.

Named as defendants besides Lyons and Wolfmeyer are the 10th Judicial Circuit and Peoria County government. Parker filed the lawsuit pro se, meaning he is representing himself. He also submitted a request for a judge to waive filing fees.

In 2009, Lyons sent Parker a letter asking the then-mayoral candidate to withdraw from the ballot. No action was ever taken, and Parker ended up receiving less than 10 percent of the votes in the election. Source

Where the case is now:

United States District Court Judge Joe Billy McDade has allowed the case to continue against Lyons for Counts II, III and V. Parker is currently working on his Writ of Certiorari to the Supreme Court for the appeal of, what he defines as, "the illegal State Court's decision."

History of case on EmergePeoria:
School Board candidate General Parker summoned to the State's Attorney Office
Audacity of Illinois politicians - The General John Parker edition
General Parker granted a continuance
All gadflies are not created equal
Posted in full without comment...
Letter from General John Parker
Lawsuit filed against former States Attorney

School Board candidate General Parker summoned to the State's Attorney Office

UPDATED: See Lyon's Complaint and General's Response

I must admit, I was disappointed to hear that the State's Attorney has summoned General Parker to his office. Some of the problem in the black community is that after folks do their time, they are often the first to be "pulled over and/or in" when they are just walking down the street. This thing with General and Kevin Lyons reminds me of that exact same type of relationship - only General is not committing crimes or being pulled over by the police - he is being pulled in by the State's Attorney for attempting to having a voice in his community. I don't know, but somehow this does not seem to be fair.

The Press Release below is from General Parker, a candidate for the second district BOE seat that is currently held by Debbie Wolfmeyer. Parker, frustrated by the prospect that he has turned his life around, but feels that the powers that be, won't let him move forward and he questions their motives...

Peoria County States Attorney Playing Plantation Politics

PEORIA, Ill. – With the April 5 election just six weeks away, voters are being left in the dark about the political backdoor dealings that are manipulating County Board races to help the status quo remain in power.

2nd District candidate, General Parker, a previous mayoral candidate, has been summoned by the Peoria County State’s Attorney office to appear in courtroom 203 of the Peoria County Courthouse to answer a complaint seeking and injunction to bar him from not only holding office for school board but to keep him from being on the ballot also.

Why? Because rumor has it the Democratic Leadership wants to teach Parker a lesson that no one runs, especially a black man, without their approval. “You know, I can understand if they choose not to support me like they didn’t for mayor, but to actually do things to harm me is beyond comprehension” Parker said. I am really hurt if Dave (Senator Koehler) has any part in this. He’s like a father to me even calls me his Godson and vice-versa.

Kevin Lyons seems to have different rules for different people in this town. He seemed to want to give Mayor Ardis a pass for something he was quoted in the paper as saying was a “felony if committed by an elected official. “Me, I guess I’m not light enough for his liking” quips Parker.

What’s hard to understand is are the organizations that supposedly stand up for a person’s rights? Do we just stand back and allow Lyons to misuse this office and the taxpayer’s money. Shouldn’t Parker be allowed face the will of the people and not Kevin Lyons? Shouldn’t the office of the State’s Attorney use its resources as a shield for the people by prosecuting active crimes and criminals and not be allowed to be used a weapon for personal vendettas against minorities or those who don’t support you politically? That’s the question that will be answered today in Courtroom 203 of the Peoria County Courthouse, located at 323 main St., Peoria, IL 61602.

Dan Fishel, mayor of Brimfield, IL had a felony conviction and held that office for eight years until a complaint was made and he gave it up and sought a pardon by Blagojevich and was able to run again for mayor of Brimfield again uncontested in 2009. Kevin Lyons office allowed him to hold office for eight years without saying a word even though there was a statute that prevents him from holding municipal office. There seems to be no such requirement for school board.

Parker is an activist and was recently leading a rally in the State Capitol on February 10, 2011 in support of the Steven Watkins’ Bill. This bill increases the penalty for visitation interference for custodial parents attempting alienate their children from the non-custodial parents. Being an activist, Parker has called out Lyons on unfair practices in prosecutions of cases and his disparities in applying the death penalty and charging minority youth as adults.

Related article: Parker — a convicted felon — has week to withdraw from mayoral race

Lyons' Complaint (click thumbnails to view document)














General's Response (click thumbnail to view document)

TIF 101 presented by a community activist...

Was it a mistake, or was the City really trying to inform citizens about the East Village TIF.

Unfortunately the TIF 101 meeting that took place tonight at Glen Oak Community Center was not well attended. Estimates are that approximately 40 - 50 people were in attendance and that's inclusive of Council members and City employees (Landes, Black, Gray, Parker, Ray, et al, along with Riggenbach, Spain and Gulley).

Who was there

As promised, "Dennis in Peoria" Eggemeyer, a regular blogger who works for PCCEO was there to record the meeting. The East Village TIF will assist property owners to rehabilitate their properties and provide various financial incentives and loan programs, which would be developed and offered to qualified owners on a point system. School Board President Debbie Wolfmeyer had questions, however, I'm not sure if she was asking as a resident of the East Bluff or as the President of the BOE (the District owns several residential properties and some commercial properties on the East Bluff). In attendance along with Mrs. Wolfmeyer was Comptroller, David Kinney and the BOE Attorney that always wears the cowboy boots. Also in attendance was Jim Stowell, however, he was not sitting with the school board contingency. Mr. Stowell also had several very good questions.

Bobby Gray, the City employee whose turn it is to sell a TIF, introduced Steve Combs from Springfield's Enos Park Neighborhood Association, which is currently working under the same type of TIF.

Who wasn't there
Maybe I missed her, but I didn't see local neighborhood activist Karrie Alms at the meeting. I always feel better when Mrs. Alms is in attendance, she is great at catching the nuances under which the city has been known to operate. Mrs. Alms, along with life long East Bluff resident Sarah Partridge, was instrumental in stopping the school in the Park concept. Mrs. Alms would have found it interesting to hear Mr. Combs describe how the TIF would assist home owners with historical properties. All you folks in the big old houses over on Madison, Glen Oak and surrounding areas sounds like you need to get your wish list together - looks like good things could potentially happen for the properties you own.

One of the issues that concerned me was the talk of establishing a property acquisition/demolition program, through which properties would be acquired in a land bank until they’re demolished or redeveloped. Who do you think will be charged with over seeing the land bank? I'm thinking it will be the beloved East Bluff Neighborhood Housing Services (which is run by people who don't live on the East Bluff). That... could be a problem. I bet Steve would agree.

About the Speaker - Steve Combs

Mr. Combs spoke about neighborhood associations and residents being prepared to force city councilman to do what was right by the neighborhood, because the TIF would provide for services that we may have to fight for. Mr. Combs joked with Mr. Gray that the City might not want him to come back after giving out that information. Mr. Combs talked about the power the TIF could give a strong neighborhood association group.

Recently Mr. Combs has been involved in Springfield with organizing members of more than a dozen neighborhood associations that have formed Springfield's Inner City Older Neighborhood coalition. The group hopes to play a role in the 2011 city election, when the positions of mayor and all 10 aldermen are up for grabs. ICON members plan to develop a platform of issues, propose ordinances, and keep track of votes aldermen cast and the positions held by potential candidates.

Hopefully, local neighborhood association members who were in attendance tonight will contact Mr. Combs as we go forward with the East Village TIF.

Two file petitions for 2011 BOE vacancies

Pjstar first in print is reporting that General Parker, former candidate for Mayor, has filed his petition to be placed on the April 2011 ballot for BOE. Apparently, Parker has an outstanding civil fine, which was imposed by the State Board of Elections after he failed to file documents related to his run for Mayor. The $1,200 fine can be nullified after two years if not paid. But during that time, it could prevent Parker from appearing on the ballot.

The pjstar also took advantage of the opportunity to raise again the fact that Parker has some criminal infractions from his youth on his record. The pjstar writer speculates about the Illinois Election Code noting that any person convicted of an "infamous crime" shall be "prohibited from holding any office of honor, trust, or profit, unless such person is again restored to such rights by the terms of a pardon for the offense or otherwise according to the law."

The deadline to file petitions is December 20th. There are two vacancies coming open and so far only Parker and Mike Mitchell have filed petitions. Debbie Wolfmeyer, the current BOE President is still gathering signatures; and Jim Stowell has said that he does not plan on running.

BOE Notice of deadline for filing a Petition for 2011 election

The seats of two of the Board of Education's most criticized members have terms that are set to expire in April of 2011. Debbie Wolfmeyer, who was elected to the Board from District 2 in 2006, currently serves the Board as President. Mrs. Wolfmeyer also serves on the Strategic Communications Committee. Also set to expire is the District 3 seat that Jim Stowell currently holds. Mr. Stowell also serves the BOE as Chairperson of the Building Committee and Community School Advisory Committee.

The Notice

The Board of Education, City of Peoria, School District #150, hereby gives public notice that two (2) School Board member are to be elected in the election to be held on April 5, 2011. One School Board member is to be elected from the second (2nd) School Election District and one from the third (3rd) School Election District.

Petitions may be obtained from Joan L. Bastian, Secretary of the Board of Education, at her office at 3202 N. Wisconsin Avenue, Peoria, Illinois, during normal office hours. School Board candidates may circulate petitions beginning September 21, 2010. The first day petitions may be filed is Monday, December 13. 2010 at 8:00 a.m. and the last day for filing petitions is Monday, December 20, 2010 at 5:00 p.m. Source