The following statements were released by Theodore Grabbe and Susan MacDonald, objectors to the District 15 bond issue petitions; Mary Vanek, principal propronent behind the petitions; and Matt Flamm, a candidate for Illinois state representative for District 54. Flamm originally helped coordinate an effort to check the signatures on the petition filed by Vanek.
Grabbe and MacDonald released their statement June 1, when they dropped their challenge to the petitions. Vanek released her statement in response June 2. Flamm submitted his statement to triblocal.com June 2.
For more information on the bond issue and the petition, click here.
From Theodore Grabbe and Susan MacDonald:
Our goal in filing objections to the petition has remained constant – to confirm that all legal requirements for the petition are followed, in particular to ensure that the required number of petition signatures are valid as registered voters in School District #15. We do not believe that outside influences should have a vote in our local school district affairs.
The County Clerk confirmed that over 840 signatures on the petition were invalid and ineligible to be counted on the petition. That number represents over 11 percent of the total number of signatures submitted in alleged support of the petition. This finding shows that our concerns and call for petition review were well founded and necessary. Invalid signatures do not represent the views or interests of School District #15 voters.
With that said, the remaining signatures on the petition appear to be in sufficient numbers to put the question to a proper vote of the people. With that apparent confirmation, we are choosing not to pursue the objection further.
Finally, we reiterate that we believe it is essential that decision making in matters of our schools be limited solely to the School District #15 school board and its citizens. Quality education decisions for our children should not be made in an atmosphere of electioneering and propagandizing. We are hopeful that all School District #15 citizens share our concern for the quality of the schools that have served the students and community so well for so many years.
From Mary Vanek:
We are pleased that Ted Grabbe and Susan MacDonald have finally decided to withdraw their objections to the petition to put the District 15 bond issue on the ballot in November. However, we are not pleased that in their June 1 press release they continue to malign the many, many people who circulated the petition, and the thousands who signed it. We recognize that as registered voters living within District 15 boundaries they had every right to review the validity of the signatures, but we refuse to recognize their right to fabricate baseless objections in an effort to invalidate the petition. Claiming that signatures were not genuine without bothering to review the voter signature cards; making up hundreds of bogus “duplicate signature” claims; and alleging that hundreds of signatures were invalid because they could not read the circulator’s signature – these are all examples of the bad faith objections filed by the objectors that ultimately could not be sustained.
Grabbe and MacDonald claim that their intent was to protect the good people living in District 15 from “outside influences”. The petitions were circulated by District 15 residents and signed by District 15 residents, approximately 10% of whom were not registered to vote at the address they listed on the petition. Obtaining 90% “good” signatures is actually a very good outcome – in fact 90% is a score that will garner any District 15 student an A-. I personally reviewed each of the objections to the petition and I found only three or four signatures from people who lived outside of District 15 boundaries. After reviewing the petitions it should have been clear to Grabbe and MacDonald that “outside influences” were not at work.
Grabbe and MacDonald further claimed in their press release that they want to protect us from “electioneering and propagandizing” but these are precisely the activities that they have engaged in by filing their bad faith objections. Initially the call to review the petition was sent out by Matt Flamm, soon to be the failed Democratic candidate in the November election for State Representative. The request for copies of our petition was made by the President of the ESPA (the District 15 program assistants union) and the IEA (Illinois Education Association) President stated his support for the ESPA’s efforts to defeat our petition at a recent ESPA banquet. The president of the IEA, and most of its membership, are most certainly not residents of District 15, and yet Grabbe and MacDonald in their press release stated that only “District 15 citizens” should be allowed to influence our local elections.
In addition to all of the signature objections that were made for purely political purposes, there were the insupportable “legal” objections to the form of the petition and the timing of the filing of the petition. The law clearly states that when a required filing date falls on a weekend, the filing date is extended until the next business day. Likewise, the backdoor referendum statute is clear that when the proponents of a petition use the petition form provided by the District, nobody can object to the form of the petition. Thankfully, those objections have been withdrawn as well, and I will not have to witness the embarrassing spectacle of a fellow member of the bar making an argument that is so far beyond the pale that one can only cringe to witness it.
While the press release issued by the objectors can be seen as their final farewell, it is actually the opening salvo in the November referendum campaign. To which we can only respond: “bring it on.”
Part of a well-functioning democracy is making sure our election laws are followed. In less than one week, our hardworking volunteers found that more than 10% of the petition signatures were invalid. But it appears that the referendum will be on the November 2nd ballot.
Government by referendum has been a disaster in California, and it won’t work here. We need to elect good people, trust them to make wise decisions, and replace them if they don’t.
The school board’s decision to issue “Build America Bonds” was a prudent one. Most of the money will be used to maintain and upgrade our schools. The other $10 million will replenish the working cash fund, which has been depleted because the State of Illinois doesn’t pay its bills on time. When the General Assembly and the Governor solve that problem, District 15 will repay that portion of the bonds. And the Federal government will pay more than one-third of the interest.
The real issue is how we are going to maintain the high-quality public schools that brought my family to Palatine in 1987. Unless we support our public schools, they will decline in quality. Without excellent schools, our area would lose its attractiveness. Housing prices would decline, and our community would no longer be the one we chose to make our home.
Matt Flamm – It is only prudent to borrow when you have a solid plan to actually use the money and then have heathly sustainable budget to repay the loan. Neither was in place in D15. Can we take your enthusiam for borrowing as a sign that you will continue in our State of Il tradition of borrowing to pay bills, including teacher pensions, without regard to the long term ability to repay those loan?
Whoa … check out the signature on Matt’s Statement of Organization for his campaign! If anyone can make out a single character in the english character set they deserve a prize. Looks more like somthing a chicken might write!
http://www.elections.il.gov/CampaignDisclosure/PdfViewer.aspx?FiledDocID=393891&DocType=Image
Then again, maybe a chicken did write it!
Matt, if you don’t agree with the Illinois Election Code (that allows these referendums) then why don’t you change it? Oh, right … you first need to become a member of the Illinois Legislature for that. Darn! It’s a shame you don’t have much a chance to win now after alienating so, so many voters …. Oh, well, it was a thought.
Matt – I bet you one donut that if I reviewed all of the signatures on your last nominating petition, I would find that at least 10% of the signatures were invalid. What do you say? Do we have a wager? More to the point, it doesn’t matter if half of the signatures on any given petition are invalid, as long as you have the minimum required number.