General Parker granted a continuance

General Parker made an appearance today in Judge Brandt's courtroom to answer the Summons issued against Parker by the States' Attorney, Kevin Lyons.

As posted earlier, the State is seeking to stop Parker's name from being on the ballot for school board. It also seeks to stop Parker from campaigning for or taking the office of School Board and fines him $1000, plus court costs for claiming that he is "legally qualified" to hold the seat.

Lyons is looking to overlay Election Law (which refers to "infamous crimes") over School Code, which states that "All school elections shall be governed by the general election law of the State." However, the only crime that School Code says would deem a person unelectable is if they are a convicted child sex offender.

In an earlier press release Parker raised issues as to how/why the State's Attorney chooses his battles, implying that this is a personal vendetta that Kevin Lyons is waging. Parker also points to recent infractions by Mayor Ardis and others that have not been as closely scrutinized by the State's Attorney office.

Related article: Ardis may have broken law

“Impunity is a factor in charging. These attempts to use your position for your personal thrust is very appealing, it’s very inviting, but wrong is wrong. “You’re elected to a position and it’s not enough to use your own personal persuasion, your own personal strength, you want to use the office that apparently you think you now own. The public owns it.”

State's Attorney Kevin Lyons
talking about Mayor Jim Ardis
October 20, 2010

Audacity of Illinois politicians - The General John Parker edition

As General John Parker has made clear to the citizens of Peoria that he “will not quit”, his campaign rolls on. A quick look at Parker’s website shows the following events:

February 28, 2009 - Fundraiser for General Parker for Mayor. Join us in celebrating Peoria’s Black History! Keynote speaker is Former Fire Chief, John Parker. Located at the Holiday Inn City Centre. 500 Hamilton Blvd. Cocktails at 6:00pm; Program at 7:00pm. Come share a night with good friends, good food, networking and dancing. Retired Fire Chief John Parker will speak about Peoria’s Black History as he remembers it. TICKETS COST $35.00 each.$350.00 Table of 10 Sponsorships Available from $500 on up. To purchase tickets call: (309)397-3104

March 1, 2009 - Campaign Kickoff

March 2, 2009 - Candidate's Night, Paparazzi's Restaurant at 6:30pm, 4315 N. Voss in Peoria Heights

March 4, 2009 - Candidate's Night Moss-Bradley Resident's Association at 6:30 p.m.
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General John Parker, the only other candidate who is running against the incumbent, Mayor Jim Ardis. I suppose I should mention, General John Parker is black and Jim Ardis is white. However, the broader issue is Parker's legal issues:

I have been letting this issue marinate for several days. However, I cannot help but continue to wonder, why is Kevin Lyons taking such a strong stance against General John Parker? We all have known for some time (since December) that Parker is a convicted felon, so why is Kevin Lyons forcing Parker’s hand at this juncture?

Why did Lyons wait until Parker's name was on the ballot? To remove his name from the ballot at this time would be costly. Absentee voting is set to begin at the Election Commission as early as Thursday, March 4.


Other bloggers are also questioning why the State’s Attorney is picking this fight with Parker now. Recently, Mr. Lyons made the following statement in the PJStar about Parker:

"I gave Mr. Parker a courtesy week to withdraw mainly because most people seek public office, you hope, in a sense of altruism," Lyons said. "You would like to afford them the opportunity to self-correct an ineligibility or conflict. I don't think anyone believes Mr. Parker was interested in self-correcting."

Really? Mr. Parker is a politician, just like Mr. Lyons and Mr. Ardis. How altruistic is any politician... really? Why is it necessary for Kevin Lyons to deal with John Parker in such a condescending manner? Is it because Parker is an ex-convict? Is this the type of treatment every ex-convict can look forward to, regardless of how much they may have turned their life around? It looks to me like Mr. Parker has done a lot of self correcting.

According to PJStar.com City Council members have barely commented on the mayoral race and Mayor Jim Ardis could not be reached for comment. However...


From what I understand, anyone could have registered a complaint about Parker's candidacy five days after the election's filing date, which was Dec. 15, 2008, and no one did.

Has some one registered a complaint about Parker's candidacy since then? Did I miss that news story? Oh, I get it, this an example of the State's Attorney, making an altruistic effort, to protect the citizens of Peoria, from the likes of General John Parker?