NEW: Slate revised after petition challenge

By Scott Aust, Journal Staff Writer | Friday, April 15, 2005

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Rapid City - Voters in Ward 1 will have one fewer candidate to choose from in the Rapid City Council election on June 7 after a petition challenge this week left one of the four candidates with less than the required number of signatures.

A successful challenge of 14 signatures on Ronald L. Weifenbach's petitions left the business owner with 47 valid signatures on his nominating petition. Fifty signatures of registered voters within the candidate's ward were needed by April 5 to be placed on the ballot.

The loss of Weifenbach from the ballot leaves Michael Schumacher and Todd Ossenfort as challengers seeking to unseat incumbent Jean French in Ward 1.

Schumacher, a district sales manager with the Rapid City Journal, challenged the petitions submitted by both Weifenbach and Ossenfort, a former Ward 2 alderman.

One of Ossenfort's two petition sheets was missing the ward number in the Declaration of Candidate part of the form, but Ossenfort's name will still appear on the ballot. Jim Preston, city finance officer, received a legal opinion from City Attorney Jason Green that recommended accepting the petition.

Green said Friday he wasn't comfortable saying anything about the matter until he has a chance to confer with the city council during Monday night's regular meeting.

"There's been a request made that that opinion that I provided be released, but I need council authorization to do that," Green said.

However, in an e-mail to the council that was provided to the Journal, Green explained that although the missing ward number is a defect in Ossenfort's petition, Green feels a court would find the petition "substantially complies with the requirements of the law."

This week marked the second week in a row that candidates running for city office have had petitions challenged. Last week, petitions filed by two mayoral candidates, high school senior Cody Raterman and retired businessman Glenn Plummer, were ruled invalid, leaving incumbent Mayor Jim Shaw unopposed.

The only other contested city council race on June 7 besides Ward 1 will be in Ward 5. Incumbent Bob Hurlbut will face off against former alderman Rick Kriebel.