PEKIN, Ill. – There’s a strong disagreement of sorts between two top officials in Tazewell County government.
Clerk John Ackerman claims that despite having done it in the last year, he has to, under state statute, realign the county’s voting precincts in June.
Problem is, County Board Chair David Zimmerman disagrees, claiming it doesn’t, and won’t put it on the June board meeting agenda next week.
Ackerman says Zimmerman wants to knowingly break the law.
“It’s knowingly, willingly, not following state statute when you are an elected officer who’s sworn to uphold the Illinois State Statute. That’s the first thing we do when we are elected, is take an oath of office that we will follow the Constitution of the United States, and the Constitution of the State of Illinois,” said Ackerman, at a Thursday news conference. “He’s just saying, ‘I don’t want to do it.’”
Zimmerman disagrees, saying statute sides with him, and that there’s no reason to change the voting precincts again.
“The last two years in a row, we have done major changes in the precinct redistricting in Tazewell County,” said Zimmerman, in a phone interview after the news conference. “To do redistricting three years in a row I think really adds to voter confusion. I’m trying to avoid that. I think if we go every other year, we’ll be just fine.”
Zimmerman says Ackerman simply just wants to make life difficult for everyone.
“The fact is John makes a battle of everything, and makes demands of the board office that are outside of his authority probably doesn’t help,” said Zimmerman. “Whether John was the clerk of whoever, I don’t believe we need to redistrict three years in a row.”
That might be why Ackerman says there has been some “personal animosity” between Ackerman and Zimmerman over the years, even though the two are Republicans. Both agree that it’s not a political battle between them.
But Ackerman does call Zimmerman dishonest – sort of.
“I won’t say dishonest. I will say he has an opinion,” said Ackerman. “He’s firm in his opinion of where this is at. It’s good to have an opinion, but when you are advised that your opinion will violate state statute, then actively work to change state statute.”
Zimmerman also claims that Ackerman has been censured by the County Board before, including for allegedly giving his staff pay raises that weren’t approved by the board.
