Lockport Township candidate withdraws from Tuesday’s election

A Lockport Township candidate has removed himself from the running in the election on Tuesday after a warning regarding his past felony conviction.

Tim O’Neil has withdrawn from the election and any votes for him will not be counted, Will County Assistant State’s Attorney Scott Pyles said.

O’Neil’s withdrawal as a township trustee candidate followed a warning from the state’s attorney’s office that he faced removal from office if elected.

Illinois law bars convicted felons from holding elected office.

“He’s (O’Neil’s) on probation right now,” Pyles said.

The state’s attorney’s office on March 24 sent O’Neil a letter stating that it would pursue his removal from office if elected.

The letter cited a state statute prohibiting convicted felons from holding elected township office. It also stated that O’Neil’s probation officer had informed the state’s attorney’s office that O’Neil had intended to withdraw from the race the previous week.

Neither O’Neil nor the Lockport Township Republican Party could be reached for comment.

The probation apparently is connected to a Cook County case of credit card fraud.

Pyles compared the O’Neil case to the state’s attorney’s removal of Karl Ferrell from his position of Joliet Township trustee in 2023 after it was learned that he had previous felony convictions.

“[O’Neil] is not eligible to hold office,” Pyles said.

Pyles said the state’s attorney’s office learned of O’Neil’s felony conviction too late to prevent him from being on the ballot. His name will remain on the ballot on Election Day, April 1. But Pyles said any votes for O’Neil will not be counted since he has formally withdrawn from the election.

A post on the Lockport Township Republicans website describes O’Neil as a “dedicated senior services professional with more than 20 years of experience in analyzing operational efficiencies, developing and implementing financial controls, and managing risk compliance and auditing.”

O’Neil is the second candidate in the Lockport Township election to face legitimacy questions.

Kevin “Kollins” Hedemark, the Democratic candidate for highway commissioner, was removed from the ballot after his name appeared on a ballot forfeiture list issued by the Illinois State Board of Elections for failing to pay a $100 fine due to violations of campaign law.