The April 7 ballot for eight open Naperville City Council positions just shrank a little — at least for now.
Jim Bergeron, owner of Jimmy’s Bar & Grill and the Wise Boxer Pour House in downtown Naperville, has suspended his campaign for municipal office, citing a necessary but as-yet-unaddressed tweak in the local liquor code. That leaves 19 residents actively campaigning for council seats, in addition to the four running for mayor.
When the state a decade ago reversed a 1938 law that made it illegal for people who hold liquor licenses to also hold state or local office, the update was reflected automatically in many communities, clearing the way for bar owners to serve and continue running their pubs if elected. Home rule communities, however, needed to complete the process independently — and that wasn’t done in Naperville.
“It’s an oversight,” Bergeron said Friday. “I was operating under the assumption that everything was good. Being a home rule city, it’s hard to keep up with all those changes.”
Nothing forbids Bergeron, or any other bar owner in town, from running for office, or serving if elected. The problem would come when it’s time to renew his liquor license.
“If you look at the local ordinance, it’s so specific,” he said. “My guess is if they looked closely, there’s some (current) elected officials that wouldn’t technically be able to serve.”
City code still “prevents the issuance of a liquor license to an elected public official that has a direct or indirect interest in the sale of alcohol,” city prosecutor Mike DiSanto said in an email.
Bergeron said he plans to take up the issue with the Liquor Commission when it meets Feb. 12, but even if the requirement is addressed by the City Council at its meeting several days later, it’s unlikely the change in the law would take effect much in advance of the April 7 consolidated elections, leaving little time for him to rejuvenate his campaign.
“It’s kind of one of those things that needs to be done the proper way … that process just basically takes time,” he said. “I would not want to give the impression that anything is being slammed through.”
Calling the situation “weird and unfortunate,” Bergeron said continuing his campaign would be unfair to the voters and the other candidates.
“That’s the way I’m made,” he said. “You do this right, or you don’t do it at all.