Activists in the Lake County Tea Party have received over 300 pages of email correspondence between school officials via FOIA. The emails uncover appalling actions by these officials. The following from Paul Mitchell at the Lake County Tea Party exposes information about this past school board election, and the consequences that the President of the teacher’s union, Maria Garcia, feared would harm the union’s ability to collectively bargain, if any of the Lake County Tea Party affiliated candidates won the election. The emails how the tactics the officials would use to prevent that occurrence.

The following was sent to District 46 Superintendent Ellen Correll, Assistant Superintendent Lynn Barkley, union leaders Christine Wilson, Diane Elfering, and fellow incumbent candidate Sue Facklam, from Garcia’s email account in District 30 (Wed., Feb. 23rd, 11:34 AM), where Garcia works as a teacher.

“I think that all members of both Unions should be apprised of this information… There will be no collective bargaining with those 3 on the board. I am very afraid that Sue and I will not have the funds necessary to fight a ‘party’.”

In the following email, Facklam, a voter registrar writes the following, referring to registering high school students to vote.

“Don’t let them turn us in; gifts to register to vote is probably illegal! I did offer Erika [Garcia’s 18-year-old daughter] more gift cards if she can gather up more friends!”(Wed., March 2nd, 10:14 AM to Mary Garcia at her D30 account.) It is a felony to offer remuneration to anyone for voting or registering to vote.

Mitchell explains, “The emails reveal evidence of extensive contributions, expenditures, and in-kind contributions that, by law, ought to have triggered formation of a campaign committee, and been reported to the State Board of Elections.”

Alex Finke, campaign manager for Garcia and Facklam, offers to accept cash in order to maintain campaign secrecy.

“Anything you spend counts towards the 1999.99 that you and Mary would be allowed to spend. The only way around it, would be to lie and pay me cash. Then I could claim that I am volunteering for you.” (Mon., March 7th, 3:55 PM, to Sue Facklam.)

D46 Superintendent Ellen Correll, who receives a compensation package worth over $200,000 per year to educate students, also seems to have spent a bit of her compensated time on election activities.

“Mary Garcia is wondering how many signs or flyers you would take?” (Ellen Correll, on her D46 email account, to North Chicago D187 Superintendent Douglas Parks and to Mary Garcia on her D30 email account, Thurs., Mar. 10th, 3:24 PM.) As a custodian of federal and state education funds, Correll is prohibited by law from participating in political activity of any kind.



Mitchell says, “This is not about whose policies are best and whose are wrongheaded. It’s about how elected officials and employees of School District #46, the elementary school district in Grayslake, Illinois, have abused their positions and their access to benefit themselves at taxpayers’ expense, and at the expense of the children entrusted to them.”

Click to download all of District 30 FOIA 1

Click to download all of District 30 FOIA 2

Cross Posted at: Rebel Pundit