Hardeeville City Council candidate Scott Ready is back on the May 8 ballot, but the future of the local election commission who tried to disqualify him may be in question.

Also outstanding is a complaint filed by Ready with the State Ethics Commission. Ready alleges conflict of interest as one of the members of the three-person commission who ruled him ineligible is related to incumbent Roy Powell who is seeking re-election.

Cathy Hazelwood, deputy director and general counsel for the State Ethics Commission, said Wednesday that a decision Tuesday by the 14th Circuit Court of Appeals judge to reverse the local election commission's disqualification of Ready has no bearing on the ethics complaint.

"Those are two parallel, mutually exclusive procedures. They may have related facts. If a court didn't make a decision on an appeal, any investigation under way would still proceed," Hazelwood said.

Ready, 49, was ruled ineligible March 15 by the local election commission - appointed by City Council - because of an error on his Statement of Economic Interests. Ready marked "elected" instead of "candidate" on the filing form.

Joyce Meeks, Mae Montgomery and Lyndia Daniels are the election commissioners.

At the March 15 meeting, city of Hardeeville attorney David Tedder suggested the election commission move into a short executive session so he could advise them.

Tedder said Thursday that there were cases mentioned by Judge Carmen Mullen during Tuesday's emergency hearing that he would have brought to their attention.

"While I can't say it would have changed their decision, there were the cases mentioned by Judge Mullen in the hearing that I wanted to bring to their attention, such as Cole vs. Town of Atlantic Beach Election Commission," he said.

Tedder also said Thursday he had not had an opportunity to brief the City Council on the election commission issue.

"Potential conflicts of interest arise all the time in a small town. There are methods to avoid those types of conflicts or address those conflicts of interest in the statutes," Tedder said.

When asked Wednesday if he thought it appropriate for the election commission to be making decisions that ultimately affect by whom they are appointed, City Manager Bob Nanni said he had not thought about it like that before.

"It sounds like it's something that should be reviewed," Nanni said.

Mullen overruled the election commission decision, citing the first of four issues listed in an appeal filed by Ready's lawyer, Jared Newman of Port Royal.

After about a 20-minute hearing, Mullen told those in attendance in the courtroom that the election commission erred as a matter of law in its decision. Mullen reversed the disqualification and said based on this ruling there was no need to address the other three points in the appeal.

As a result of the judge's ruling, Ready's name will appear on the ballot. He is running against incumbents Roy Powell and Michael Sweeney for two seats on City Council.

The other issues in the appeal involved whether the election commission violated Ready's right to due process; whether member Meeks, chair of the commission, had a conflict of interest because she is Powell's mother-in-law; and whether the commission denied equal protection of law to Ready.