Burr Ridge Mayor Calls Resident 'Pawn'

BURR RIDGE, IL — Burr Ridge's mayor on Wednesday called the man who objected to his candidacy petition earlier this year a "pawn." Meanwhile, a lawyer for the man said the mayor is going after a citizen who exercised his rights under the law.

Four months ago, Mayor Gary Grasso, an attorney, sued resident Steven Mueller to seek sanctions for what he called a "frivolous" challenge to his candidacy petition. The village's electoral board, made up of Grasso's political allies, rejected Mueller's objections last winter. In the April election, Grasso ran unopposed.

Mueller recently retained a new lawyer — Neal Smith of the Chicago-based Robbins Schwartz law firm. Smith also recently represented residents who opposed a local lounge proposed by Grasso ally Filippo "Gigi" Rovito, owner of Capri Ristorante.

With Grasso's lawsuit, the mayor and Smith are arguing over procedures.

In an email to Patch on Wednesday, Grasso contended Mueller filed a "frivolous" election challenge at the "behest of another person or persons."

"The rules allow anyone sued to seek sanctions for frivolous suits. Mueller in essence sued me. That’s what’s at issue," Grasso said in the email. "Mr. Mueller’s new attorney filed a motion to argue procedure. He has not addressed the frivolous nature of Mueller’s challenge."

Smith, however, said his client exercised his right as a citizen of Burr Ridge to participate in a local election process under state law by alleging errors in Grasso's nominating papers.

"Just because an objection to nominating papers is not successful at the electoral board level does not make it frivolous, especially given that electoral boards are often made up of political allies of one of the parties involved," Smith said.

Smith said Grasso's baseless lawsuit was against "an honest citizen who simply participated in the election process."

In an email to Smith earlier this month, Grasso said he appreciated that Smith confirmed that Mueller was a "pawn" who "really instigated a meritless challenge that was materially withdrawn." He did not indicate how Smith made that confirmation.

As he has before, Grasso said he also could file abuse of process and malicious prosecution claims against Mueller.

In January, the village's electoral board — made up of trustees Al Paveza and Guy Franzese and Clerk Sue Schaus — unanimously granted Grasso's request to dismiss Mueller's challenge, which was based on procedural issues.

Under Illinois law, candidates are required to follow an exacting process with their paperwork. Seemingly small errors can get them removed as candidates.

Mueller filed to run for Village Board two years ago, but the village's electoral board barred him from the ballot.

One of the problems with Grasso's petition, Mueller said, was that it was not validly notarized because the notarization was dated "December 3, 2021," nearly a year into the future at the time.

The village's electoral board unanimously rejected that argument.

Mueller also pointed to a law that says the "heading of each sheet shall be the same" in the petition. Grasso's petition alternated between "Village President" and "Mayor/Village President."

The electoral board said either title was acceptable.

In a March interview, Grasso said Mueller's challenge cost the village $6,000 in attorney fees and wasted two afternoons of three village officials. Grasso filed his lawsuit as a citizen, not as mayor.