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Goggin tries to get back on ballot as a Republican

A Greenville attorney is making his third bid to be on the Fayette County ballot as a states attorney candidate this November.

The Fayette County Republican Central Committee filed last Friday a resolution in which it lists Dan Goggin as the partys candidate for states attorney.

Were going to try it again, Randy Pollard, committee chairman, told The Leader-Union on Friday. I checked with the Illinois Board of Elections, and they said that I had the right to nominate someone. So, we had a meeting today (of the Republican Central Committee), and we re-filed today (Friday).

This is the second time that the GOP committee has attempted to have Goggin listed as its candidate, and the third attempt for Goggin to run against the incumbent states attorney, Democrat Stephen Friedel.

Pollard said that one of the motivations behind re-nominating Goggin was the desire to give voters a choice in the Nov. 4 general election.

The overwhelming majority of people that contacted me said that (not having a candidate) isnt right, Pollard said. They told me that We want to have a choice.

The re-filing action by the same candidate isnt something weve ever encountered in Fayette County, Pollard said. There is no case law that says what I just did today (re-filing) was wrong, according to the lawyers with the Illinois Board of Elections.

Its time to get out there and start the campaign, Pollard said. Let the people decide.

County Clerk and Recorder Terri Braun said the Resolution to Fill a Vacancy in Nomination form filed Friday by Pollard and Merrill Thull (committee secretary) doesnt require any (petition) signatures, other than the party officials.

She said she has talked with the State Board of Elections and will be seeking a legal opinion to confirm the legality of filling the vacancy with a previous candidate.

The Republican Central Committee filed papers after the primary election to put Goggin on the general election ballot as a Republican ballot, but Friedel challenged the legality of the document.

In April, a Fayette County electoral board ruled in favor of Friedel, who claimed that the petition was not filed within three days of the partys decision to nominate him as a candidate. Goggin and Pollard argued that they simply put the wrong date on the petition.

Goggin then filed a petition in June seeking to challenge Friedel as an independent candidate, and Friedel also filed an objection to that petition.

Friedel claimed that 192 of 511 signatures on Goggins papers were invalid. If that were proven true, Goggin would have less than the 400 signatures that were required.

A second electoral board hearing was scheduled, but on the morning of that hearing, Goggin withdrew his nominating petition.

If Friedel challenges the latest petition for Goggin, the electoral board will have a slightly different makeup.

By state law, the board must include the county clerk and recorder, circuit clerk and states attorney. The county treasurer is the first alternate, and the county sheriff is the second alternate.

The electoral board that ruled in favor of Friedel in the spring included Terri D. Braun (county clerk), Marsha Wodtka (circuit clerk) and Rose Hoover (treasurer), who was called to due to that it was the states attorney who caused the board to convene.

Wodtka retired last Thursday, and her chief deputy clerk, Mary Sue Ruot, was appointed as her temporary successor on Thursday afternoon by Judge S. Gene Schwarm. Ruot would replace Wodtka on the electoral board.

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