David Krupa Faces Goliath-Like Opposition From Michael J. Madigan
The 13th Ward of Southwest Chicago is one of the most politically impenetrable districts in the country. Run under current House Speaker Michael J. Madigan– AKA “Boss Madigan”, the most powerful politician in the state– some say the office of 13th Ward Alderman is more of a political appointment than an elected office. The Democratic ward committeeman has called the 13th ward home since 1969. The 13th ward alderman has been unchallenged on the ballot for nearly 30 years, since 1991, and that election was won with 85 percent of the vote. The office hasn’t seriously been challenged in nearly 40 years, since 1979. According to John Kass of The Chicago Tribune, “Boss Madigan has long hand-picked his aldermen. He likes them loyal and quiet. The current silent alderman of the 13th Ward is Marty Quinn.” Marty Quinn’s brother Kevin served many years as a political operative for Boss Madigan.
David Krupa is a part-time forklift operator at FedEx, a 19-year-old freshman at DePaul University. He put his life savings and all of his graduation gifts toward opening a campaign office, according to NBC Chicago, and set about the difficult task of getting himself on the ballot.
“All I want to do is get on the ballot to address the serious issues we have, from public safety to taxes. People don’t want to say things out loud here. People who’ve challenged the 13th Ward get intimidated. You know the neighborhood,” Krupa said.
To get on the ballot, Krupa had to petition mostly total strangers residing in the 13th ward and collect 473 valid signatures. Krupa filed 1,703 signatures with the Chicago Board of Elections.
Quinn’s support network struck back with extreme prejudice.
David Krupa – college freshman taking on Madigan’s 13th Ward Alderman Marty Quinn, alleges that Madigan/Quinn precinct workers committed crimes to knock him off ballot pic.twitter.com/lSGwzIM5Ps
— Paris Schutz (@paschutz) December 10, 2018
A crew of political workers went door-to-door with official legal documents and asked residents to sign an affidavit revoking their signatures on Krupa’s petition. The affidavits are signed and notarized to ensure their legitimacy. Signing a false affidavit is a felony. These signed and notarized revocations were then turned in to the Chicago Board of Elections– more than 2,700 of them, far more than the 1,703 signatures that Krupa submitted.
Mike Kasper, the elections lawyer for the 13th ward, said he filed the ward’s objections to Krupa’s candidacy and “we’ll wait for the elections board to take it up when it does.” Asked about the discrepancy in the number of signatures and revocations, Kasper only deferred that “it is my practice to decline comment on any pending litigation.”
Michael Dorf, the legal representation for Krupa, called the case “a clown car of felonies”.
“This is clown school and election fraud. This is going way, way beyond the line. David is a huge underdog. Go ahead and beat him on Election Day, or do subtle fraud, like taking away yard signs, but when this number of false affidavits are filed, you’re talking fundamental fraud, epic fraud,” Dorf said. “We turned in 1,703 signatures. We compared them to the 2,796 revocations, and found only 187 matches, meaning only 187 people who signed David’s petitions filed revocations. So, what about the 2,609 people who didn’t sign for David but who filed revocations? That’s fraud. That’s perjury. That’s felony.”
“There are a lot of ways to be tough campaigner, there are a lot of ways to fight hard within the rules, but when you start filing false oaths, false affidavits, that crossed the line,” Dorf told ABC7-Chicago.
Quinn has declined interview requests and ducked out of a City Council meeting to avoid reporters.
Dorf plans to ask the Chicago Elections Board to refer the case Cook County State Attorney Kim Foxx.
Foxx is a Democrat. The current Illinois Attorney General is Lisa Madigan. She is Boss Madigan’s daughter.
“If we get knocked off the ballot because of the election fraud that’s happened here, we are 100 percent filing a federal lawsuit against Michael Madigan, Marty Quinn and every one of their precinct captains,” Krupa said.
