Joe Cook Sentencing on Tuesday Unlikely to Affect His Village Position

will appear in federal court Tuesday, when a federal judge will sentence him in connection with between 2005 and 2008.

to the misdemeanor charges in October, but officials said village code does not require him to step down because of them.

“To the best of my knowledge, because he was charged with misdemeanor offenses, there would be no legal reason for him to step down or to be removed from office,” Channahon Interim Village Manager Joe Pena said.

Village Attorney Dave Silverman agreed.

“We did do some research when this first came up,” Silverman said. “We don’t believe that he loses his position as village president because of a conviction of misdemeanor tax charges.”

Illinois law specifies the reasons that one can lose their office.

“State law says that you lose office of you’re convicted of a felony, certain other crimes and what you call infamous crimes,” Silverman said, referencing the hearings that took place when President Bill Clinton was in office. “It doesn’t show from our research that Joe’s crime falls into any of those."

What happens, though, if Cook is sentenced to jail time?

“We really haven’t researched that,” Silverman said. “Our thought was that we would wait until the sentencing hearing.”

Under Illinois law, there is a provision to appoint a president pro temp in the event that a village president cannot fulfil his duties. That appointment would be through the vote of village board members and the president pro temp would have to be someone who is already serving in village government.

Even though Illinois law provides a recourse for trustees to appoint a president pro temp, it does not provide a recourse for unhappy residents.

"There is no ability in Illinois to recall anyone elected to office," Silverman said.

Cook declined comment.