By HOLLY WAGNER
Herald-Whig Staff Writer
Judge Diane Lagoski ruled Monday afternoon that Quincy School Board members Glenn Bemis and Bill Daniels and former board member Carol Nichols have standing to bring a quo warranto suit against board President Melvin “Bud” Niekamp.
Lagoski set a hearing at 1:30 p.m. Dec. 7 for the next phase of the case, which seeks to determine if Niekamp is legally seated on the School Board.
“You can’t win them all,” Niekamp said at the end of Monday’s court session. “The people who elected me are the losers.”
Attorney Jack Inghram, who represents the three plaintiffs, said he was pleased with the outcome.
“That was a major hurdle,” he said. “There was not a lot of Illinois case law for guidance.”
Lagoski had to decide that the three plaintiffs either are or were substantially affected by Niekamp’s election to the School Board.
She found that Nichols had standing because she ran against Niekamp. Niekamp was the top vote-getter and Nichols came in fourth in the race for three seats. Had Niekamp not run, the outcome might have been different, Lagoski said.
She also found that Bemis and Daniels are affected because every time they vote, their vote might be considered void because of Niekamp’s uncertain status.
Attorney Bob Adrian, who represents Niekamp, argued that Lagoski must also rule on several other of his motions before she takes up the issue of whether Niekamp is seated legally on the board. Among them is whether that the plaintiffs waited too long to object and if their motives are improper. Adrian also expects to bring up these issues as his defense.
He must file his motions by Monday. He said they were part of his objections to the original 14 plaintiffs who were dismissed from the suit.
Lagoski said in her ruling that she was “going out on a limb” and that she expects her ruling to be appealed.
Quo warranto is the process by which an elected official can be removed from office. The attorney general and state’s attorney had to first refuse to bring the suit.
An opinion by the attorney general says a county board member may not run for school board as the two positions are incompatible.
Niekamp has been elected to the School Board repeatedly since 1989 and to the Adams County Board since 1992. He was on the County Board when he was re-elected to the School Board last April. He has since resigned from the County Board.
