ZEIGLER, Ill. (AP) — A man who won a seat on a southern Illinois community’s city council after running unopposed may have an opponent after all: the law.
The (Carbondale) Southern Illinoisan reports under the law James Mueller may not be eligible to take the oath of office for a seat on the Zeigler City Council because he has a 1997 felony drug conviction.
Mueller says he didn’t know about any state statute that would prevent him from being elected or sworn in and that he thinks he had the conviction was expunged from his record years ago.
Mueller says he’d like to see state law changed but Zeigler Mayor Dennis Mitchell says he’s directed the city clerk not to seat Mueller and that Mueller will have to formally resign.
