Mailer Attacks 3 LTHS Candidates

LA GRANGE, IL – A political mailer is attacking three Lyons Township High School board candidates as "right-wing activists."

The mailer says it is being paid for by the "Support Our School" group. The address is a mailbox at The UPS Store in downtown La Grange.

A group with the name "Support Our Schools" – with the last word plural – formed March 9, according to a filing with the Secretary of State's Office. The filing indicates that the group's manager is Jonathan Almer, a physicist at Argonne National Laboratory, and its address is Almer's home in La Grange Park. Patch left messages for comment with Almer.

The group has filed no report with the state Board of Elections. Under state law, it does not have to do so until it spends or raises $5,000 in a year.

The mailer denounces candidates David Herndon, Frank Evans and Tim Vlcek. It endorses incumbents Kari Dillon and Jill Beda Daniels and newcomer Tim Albores.

The only other candidate for the three board positions is Justin Clark.

In recent days, the Lyons Township Education Association, the teachers union, also has circulated a mailer endorsing Dillon, Daniels and Albores.

The association also has not filed with the elections board.

Under the law, the association and the Support Our School group could each spend $4,999 this year and avoid the requirement to file a financial report with the elections board.

In its flyer, the Support Our School group says that Awake Illinois, a conservative group, "groomed" Vlcek to run for office.

The flyer referred to a Riverside-Brookfield Landmark news story that said Vlcek attended an Awake Illinois workshop in January. He appeared in a photo at the event.

The mailer states that Awake Illinois as a group has endorsed Vlcek, Herndon and Evans, but Patch could find no evidence of it.

Janelle Towne, a Western Springs resident who belongs to Awake Illinois, said the group has made no endorsement of any Lyons Township High School candidates.

"We just encourage everyone to do their own research," Towne said in a text message.

Awake Illinois opposes mask mandates and what it sees as liberally biased lessons about race, among other topics.

In an email to Patch, candidate Herndon said he has not been endorsed by Awake and that he doesn't belong to the group. He said several people have endorsed him online, but he has not sought those endorsements.

"I don’t think individuals and/or groups like Indivisible or Awake that try to intimidate, tear down or bully anyone that doesn’t agree with them or their platform are productive," Herndon said. "This behavior keeps us from having a much-needed dialogue to try and solve issues. We need to be willing to talk to each other to find solutions. That is very challenging in our current environment where people demonize anyone that disagrees with them... School Board elections and the candidates seeking office must be free of political organization agendas."

In an interview, candidate Evans said he was not surprised the mailer campaign was being waged without transparency. He said it was similar to the school board's lack of openness.

"I'm running my own campaign. It's self-funded," Evans said. "There are no shadow organizations sending mailers on my behalf."

Vlcek said he attended the Awake workshop, but has never been a member of the group.

"I did attend a workshop they sponsored that taught people how to run a campaign from the standpoint of the many things that need to be done – not what to think or say," Vlcek said in an email.

Vlcek said school board elections are supposed to be nonpartisan.

"No matter how we try to talk about academic issues, groups like these (Support Our Schools and Indivisible) insist on making this election about identity politics. We have self-funded our election expenses. We have purposefully not accepted endorsements, nor marketed them, as others have, from any political, community or union group," Vlcek said. "If any one person or more, from any group or political camp, says they want to vote for/endorse myself, Frank or Dave, that’s their prerogative. We will not condone or promote other voices for election gain."

Patch left a message for the teachers union's president, Andrew Johannes.

The election is April 4.