Daily Chronicle is reporting that a petition for an order of protection (OP) against 5th Ward alderman Scott McAdams has been dismissed.
A DeKalb woman who last month requested an order of protection against 5th Ward Alderman Scott McAdams, alleging verbal and emotional abuse, told a DeKalb County judge Friday that she no longer wishes to pursue the order, and the case was dismissed.”
Requesting an OP did get McAdams out of the woman’s house, which the filing indicated she’d been trying to do for six months.
McAdams, in the same article, framed publicity of the OP as his “[election] opponent…looking for something to run on.”
I can’t think of much that’s more important to run on. First you have incumbent McAdams publicly accused of verbal, emotional, and mental abuse. Secondly, there seems to be no dispute that McAdams understood he was staying in his ex-girlfriend’s house unlawfully.
In fact, his refusal to leave appears to have precipitated the requested OP, as it was the first thing the petitioner described in explaining the need for one:
I got a text message from my landlord. He let me know that it was a new year and asked if Scott moved out. I said not yet. Scott said I would have to evict him to leave. I’ve been asking Scott to move out since June since we broke up and I renewed the lease without his name on it. The landlord said that’s unfortunate and said that he would fine me $100 a month per the lease as someone was living there without being on the lease…I told him that the landlord was not happy. Scott did not care.”
Landlord-tenant regulations in City of DeKalb clearly state: “The lease must list all the people who are occupants in the apartment.” Failure can mean eviction. Scott did not care.
What’s more, these are regulations that McAdams unequivocally supports for everyone else.
Publicly accused as an abuser? Apparent scofflaw and hypocrite? These issues speak to the character of the candidate, and as such constitute fair game in the 5th Ward election campaign.