Write-in candidate Mulligan faces 3 challengers ... in 2 districts

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Updated: February 27, 2012 8:22AM

Their names will not appear on the March 20 primary-election ballot, but three contenders are vying to be the Republican nominee for the 55th State Representative District — as write-in candidates.

Ten-term incumbent Rosemary Mulligan, who withdrew her name from the election after challenges to her nominating petitions were filed with the Chicago Board of Elections, has filed to run as an official write-in candidate, reported Cook County Clerk’s Office spokeswoman Courtney Greve. Also filing as write-in candidates for the 55th District Republican primary are Park Ridge residents Kelly Schaefer and Susan Sweeney.

Sweeney, a Park Ridge native and substitute teacher at St. Paul of the Cross Catholic School, announced her candidacy Jan. 19.

“I want to bring the common-sense experiences we all share of balancing a budget, paying the bills and preparing for the future to a state that has clearly forgotten those fundamentals,” Sweeney said in a written statement.

She said her “key policy goals” include repealing income-tax and corporate-tax increases; developing a “real balanced budget”; reforming the state’s pension system; and addressing “fraud and waste in the state’s Medicaid program.”

Schaefer does not appear to have formally announced her candidacy and did not return a call for comment.

In order to win the Republican nomination and appear on the Nov. 6 general election ballot, one of candidates must receive more than 500 write-in votes, Greve said.

Marty Moylan, current mayor of Des Plaines, is running unopposed as a Democrat in the March 20 primary.

In addition to running in the 55th District, Mulligan, a Des Plaines resident, also filed as a write-in candidate in the neighboring 20th State Representative District. The 20th District is now represented by Republican Michael McAuliffe, who is running to retain the seat. The district covers a portion of Park Ridge, as well as Chicago’s Northwest Side.

Greve said under write-in candidacy rules, Mulligan can run as a write-in candidate in both the 55th and 20th Districts.

“I did it because I have a sense of humor; that’s what I told people,” Mulligan said when asked why she filed to run in two adjacent districts.

She further explained that the Illinois House Republican Organization had decided not to back her candidacy this year, which she considered an insult. Running against an established Republican in the 20th District “was just a move on my part to repay the wonderful way they treated me,” Mulligan said, indicating that she hopes the move will make members of her party take notice and “come and talk to me.”

“I shouldn’t have to be fighting for my own seat. I should be helping my own colleagues that need help,” she said.