Shelby County – Is A Convicted Drug Felon Going To Be Appointed To The County Board?

Shelby Co. (ECWd) –

During this month’s regular board meeting, Chairman Tad Mayhall took no action on the appointment of James Mitchell to the County Board to fill a vacancy in District 1.  Mayhall claimed there would be no action on the agenda item because the person was not present at the meeting.  While we have not found any policy or rule requiring a person to be present for an appointment, we can only wonder if the name will appear on the next agenda for an appointment.

I asked during my public comment if the James Mitchell on the agenda is the same person as the convicted drug felon James Mitchell because we had been informed by several people that it was the same person prior to the meeting. Those calls came from numerous concerned citizens in District 1 who claimed direct knowledge of the matter.

Not a single board member would respond to my inquiry. One would think if it were not the convicted felon they would have indicated as such.  If they knew it was, maybe they were too embarrassed to admit they were looking at appointing a convicted drug felon.

I asked Mayhall after the meeting if he knew if the person on the agenda was the same person who is a convicted drug felon.  His response was he did not know if it was.  I asked, if it is, are the optics of appointing a convicted drug felon to the board a look you want for Shelby County?  He commented that there are far more concerning judici.com records on some board members.  Such a response deserves follow-up questions that we ask here since Mayhall has recently refused to respond to our inquiry.

What concerns would that be and if they are more concerning than a convicted felon’s record, why have you said nothing about it until now? 

I followed up with Mayhall 4 days ago and asked, “Are you sticking to the claim you did not know the James Mitchell that was on the agenda for an appointment is the same one with a felony drug-related conviction?

Mayhall has not responded.

It is our understanding that Mayhall was less than transparent with what he knew.

While the State of Illinois does provide a constitutional ban on convicted felons from serving in offices created by the State Constitution, eligibility may be restored as provided by law.

ARTICLE XIII
GENERAL PROVISIONS
SECTION 1. DISQUALIFICATION FOR PUBLIC OFFICE
A person convicted of a felony, bribery, perjury or other infamous crime shall be ineligible to hold an office created by this Constitution. Eligibility may be restored as provided by law.

The Legislature changed the law effective November of 2023, and now allows convicted felons to hold an office created by our State Constitution if they have completed their sentence.

(730 ILCS 5/5-5-5) (from Ch. 38, par. 1005-5-5)
    Sec. 5-5-5. Loss and restoration of rights.
    (a) Conviction and disposition shall not entail the loss by the defendant of any civil rights, except under this Section and Sections 29-6 and 29-10 of The Election Code, as now or hereafter amended.
    (b) A person convicted of a felony shall be ineligible to hold an office created by the Constitution of this State until the completion of his sentence.

The convicted drug felon, according to Judic.com, has completed his sentence related to his Class 3 felony.  Ironically, he spent 52 days in jail for the Class A misdemeanor and no jail time for the felony.

We have been unable to confirm what board member asked for a person with the name James Mitchell to be appointed to the County Board.  While I did ask the County Clerk for all communications regarding the appointment, there was no direct answer to the question within the provided records to indicate who asked for the name to be placed on the agenda.

Who knew what and when?

Where is the transparency this group of board members have been talking about for months?