More than 200 people clapped, cheered and yelled their support at the Aug. 13 Sangamon County Board meeting for changes at the Sheriff’s Department beyond the resignation of Sheriff Jack Campbell in the wake of the shooting death of Sonya Massey.
But one of those suggested changes, a binding referendum on the Nov. 5 ballot to establish the ability of voters to oust any future sheriff, failed to move forward after the board voted 6-20, with all Republicans voting against and all Democrats voting in favor.
“I’m disappointed but not surprised,” Breonna Roberts, a Springfield resident who supports establishing recall for sheriffs, said after the vote. “Clearly, we need to reassess who we have in positions of power.”
At least 17 of the more than 30 speakers calling for more transparency, better training and a more thorough vetting process in the hiring of sheriff’s deputies during the 3½ hours of public comments on the issue specifically backed a recall option.
The racially diverse speakers said they want to know why Sean Grayson – the 30-year-old, white former deputy charged with first-degree murder in the July 6 death of Massey, 36, a Black single mother of two – was hired despite a questionable employment history, two DUI convictions and a finding of severe misconduct when he served in the U.S. Army.
Before Campbell, 60, the Republican who hired Grayson in 2023, announced his resignation on Aug. 9, he said calls for his resignation were “nothing more than political maneuvering.”
Republicans, who hold a supermajority on the board, didn’t technically vote on the merits of holding a binding referendum. Instead, the progress of Democratic board member Sam Cahnman’s proposal was halted on a technicality.
County Board Chair Andy Van Meter, a Springfield Republican, ruled that Cahnman’s motion to amend his original resolution was out of order. The 6-20 vote upheld Van Meter’s decision.
Cahnman originally proposed an advisory referendum asking voters whether Campbell should resign. Cahnman introduced that resolution before Campbell announced he would retire, effective Aug. 31.
Because an advisory referendum on Campbell would be moot, Cahnman on Aug. 13 tried to amend his original resolution so voters would be asked in a binding referendum to establish the possibility of recall for future Sangamon County sheriffs in recall elections.
However, Van Meter said legal advice from the State’s Attorney’s Office indicated Cahnman’s proposed amendment was substantially different from the original resolution and could prompt a legal challenge if it were voted on as an amendment. As a result, Van Meter indicated Cahnman would need to introduce the proposal as a separate resolution.
The problem for Cahnman is that the County Board would need to vote by Aug. 19 to meet a deadline for including the question on the November general election ballot.
The morning after the board meeting, Cahnman asked Van Meter and the rest of the 29-member County Board in an email to call a special County Board meeting on Aug. 19 to vote on putting a binding referendum on the November ballot calling for a recall process for future sheriffs. Cahnman, a lawyer, said he disagreed with the legal advice Van Meter received.
It’s uncertain whether Cahnman’s effort will succeed, because county code requires 10 board members to agree to schedule a special meeting. If the other seven Democrats on the board backed Cahnman, support from at least two Republicans would be required.
If he isn’t able to get a binding referendum on the November ballot, Cahnman said he would attempt to get the measure on the ballot during the next election in April 2025.
Further complicating the issue is that Illinois State Board of Elections spokesperson Matt Dietrich told Illinois Times that state law may allow municipalities to establish the option of recall election, but county governments do not have that power for county elected officials.
Cahnman disagreed, saying a 2016 Illinois Appellate Court ruling makes clear that counties do have the power to establish a recall process for sheriffs and other countrywide officials.
Former Gov. Pat Quinn, a Democrat who, as a lawyer, represented someone involved in an earlier case cited in the 2016 ruling, said Cahnman is correct. Quinn told Illinois Times that Dietrich's interpretation of state law is "just plain wrong."
Another Democratic county board member, Marc Ayers, said board member Gina Lathan of District 22 will introduce a resolution calling for an independent investigation of how and why Grayson was hired and how the hiring process can be improved and made more transparent to the public. He said the training of deputies and other sheriff’s department employees can be improved to avoid the deaths of more people such as Sonya Massey.
“It’s calling for lots of things to happen internally and externally in the sheriff’s department,” Ayers said, noting that the resolution will be considered first by the board’s Jail Committee when it meets at noon Aug. 20 in the Sangamon South auditorium at 300 S. Ninth St. in Springfield.
Ayers, who isn’t a lawyer, said he didn’t agree with Van Meter’s decision to rule a vote on Cahnman’s amendment out of order.
“The people came here to see action, and we took action tonight, and unfortunately it was voted down by the majority on the board,” Ayers said.
He said Republicans are scared.
“They’re being told not to vote that way,” Ayers said. “They’re worried about politics. And they’re worried that they don’t have permission from their political leaders to even have an opinion on this matter, when this is the people’s house. (The public) came here to seek action, and we failed them once again.”
