Executive Report Attorney General Opinions Board of Elections and member conflicts A member of the State Board of Elections may not serve as a delegate to the national nominating convention of a political party. Serving as a delegate, the attorney general said, is acting as an officer of the party. Officers of political parties are not eligible to sit on the State Board of Elections (Ill. Rev. Stat. 1977 Supp., Ch. 46, sec. la-14). In the opinion (S-1388), the attorney general said a member of the State Board of Elections may be a member of a law firm that provides services to a municipal corporation. As a member of such a firm, he would be neither a public officer nor a public employee. Board members cannot hold any other remunerative public office or public job. State's attorneys' records, S-1383: Outside Cook County, state's attorneys must get approval from the local records commission before disposing of their records. The attorney general said the state's attorneys either had to obtain approval to dispose of the records through the local records commission or the State Records Commission, but he concluded that it was the intent of the legislature that the approval come from the local records commission. Different regulations apply to Cook County state's attorneys. Arrest records, S-1385: The clerk of the circuit court does not have to destroy information in records under his control regarding arrests (Ill. Rev. Stat. 1977, Ch. 38, sec. 206-5). An individual with no previous record, who is acquitted or released without being convicted of a criminal or municipal ordinance violation, may petition the court to remove his record of arrest from the records of the arresting authority. The record of the arrest, however, does not have to be removed from the court clerk's records. Environmental authority, S-1382: The Illinois Department of Mines and Minerals has the authority (Ill. Rev. Stat. 1977, Ch. 96 1/2, sec. 4501 et seq.) to administer a program under the federal Surface Mining Control and Reclamation Act of 1977 (30 U.S.C.A. 1201 et seq., Supp. 1978). The program provides the agencies of the states the authority to administer and enforce interim mining regulation programs until the act's more permanent programs begin. Highway maintenance, S-1384: When streets within a subdivision do not conform with county regulations the county is not responsible for their maintenance. Brass knuckles, S-1386: According to the Criminal Code of 1961 (Ill. Rev. Stat. 1977, Ch. 38, sec. 24-1 (a) (1)), metal knuckles are illegal. The attorney general concluded metal or brass knuckles cannot be used as decorative items. 32/December 1978/Illinois Issues
|
|||||||||||||||
