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Political candidate under fire for violating Hatch Act

By Arnold Wyrick - bio | email

ELKVILLE, IL (KFVS) - The April 7th election of Elkville's Township Supervisor is coming under fire.  Ross Bedar the Republican candidate defeated the Democratic incumbent Karl Maple.

But, now Bedar's victory is being reversed by the U.S. Office of Special Counsel's Hatch Act Unit.

"When he won I couldn't figure out why he'd want to give up his postal job.  So I checked it out because he had filed a violation of the Hatch Act against me.  I wanted to check it out to see what he was doing," said Louis Osman of Elkville.

Osman says Bedar challenged her candidacy for Elkville Trustee back in 2005 when she worked in the Village of Elkville Water Department.

"He petitioned me to go to Jackson County because of it.  He said I violated the Hatch Act."

The OSC recently contacted Bedar and informed him he'd have to resign his elected position because he'd violated the Hatch Act as a federal employee.

Bedar is currently employed as a mail carrier for the U.S. Postal Service in Elkville.  He submitted his resignation letter last week during the township meeting.

"He said that to his knowledge he didn't know anything about the Hatch Act.  They read it in his letter he wrote.  He wasn't at the meeting," Osman said.

She still questions Bedar's comments because he's also served as a Republican committee chairman.

"I'm pretty sure he knew what he was doing when he did it," she said.  "He just didn't think anybody else would catch it; he thought he'd get away with it."

A special township meeting is scheduled for Wednesday evening at the Elkville Township building.

Heartland News tried to contact Ross Bedar, but his wife said he was unavailable to comment and that she didn't get involved in his political affairs.

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