Cook County State’s Attorney candidate and Riverside resident Tony Peraica assured himself the Republican nomination for the post last week when he successfully challenged the petitions of his opponent Edward J. Barron. The Cook County Board of Elections ruled last week that Barron had not filed enough valid signatures on his nominating petitions and threw him off the ballot.

Peraica said in a telephone interview that Barron’s candidacy was backed by Cook County Commissioner and Cook County Republican Chairwoman Liz Gorman, an opponent of Peraica.

“He’s been a major financial donor to her and he’s a good friend of Ed Vrdolyak, just like she is,” Peraica said, who vowed to remove Gorman from the party post when the Republican Cook County Central Committee meets to select a chairman after the Feb. 5 primary.

“I will guarantee to you that it won’t be Liz Gorman,” Peraica said. “She’s not going to be the chairman for long.”

A call to Gorman seeking comment was not returned.

Richard B. Mayers, a Berwyn resident and alleged white supremacist who had filed to run for Congress in the Green Party primary for the 3rd Congressional District was also removed from the ballot last week. Two Green Party members challenged his petition and the electoral board ruled that Mayers did not have enough valid signatures.

The 3rd District encompasses much of the south side of Forest Park.

In July 2005 Mayers was charged with damaging VHS tapes having to do with the Holocaust at the Riverside Public Library. Charges were later dropped when library officials failed to appear in court.

Illinois Green Party spokesperson Phil Huckleberry said he was happy that Mayers was removed from the ballot.

“We felt that it was not appropriate for him to be on the ballot because he is not a member of the Green Party and his views are dramatically inconsistent with those of Green Party values,” Huckleberry said.

The ruling leaves Jerome Pohlen as the only Green Party candidate on the ballot for Congress in the 3rd Congressional District. Mayers had challenged Pohlen’s petitions, but Mayers’ challenge was thrown out after the electoral board decided that his objection pointed to no specific defects on Pohlen’s nominating petitions.

Pohlen declined to comment.

Kevin O’Connor, of LaGrange Park, who along with Rita Bogolub objected to Mayers’ petitions, said that Mayers wore a T-shirt bearing a confederate flag to the meeting of the electoral board when the decision was announced.