North Cook News

The Northwest Suburban Teachers Union has endorsed for the second-time incumbent Anna Klimkowicz, an at-large representative on the Township High School District 211 school board, according to media reports. Republicans, however, view this decision as questionable.

“My understanding is that Anna was actually on the committee that negotiated the recent teachers' contract and she's taking campaign money from the union,” said Joseph Folisi, committeeman with the Schaumburg Township Republican Organization. “It would seem to me that there's an inherent conflict of interest there, if not an actual or perceived conflict of interest.” 

In addition to Klimkowicz, who was first elected in 1997, the Daily Herald reported that the teacher’s union also endorsed Curtis Bradley and Tim McGowan in Tuesday's nonpartisan elections for the Palatine-Schaumburg High School District 211 school board.

“The League of Women Voters was complaining about the Barrington Township Republican Organization supporting certain candidates in nonpartisan elections but they don't seem to care that the unions are supporting candidates,” Folisi told North Cook News. “Although elections are nonpartisan, the school board votes on union contracts for the teachers. To me that's a clear conflict of interest.”

The Barrington Township Republican Organization (BTRO)’s Facebook page states that endorsing candidates is not a violation of state election law.

“We appreciate League of Women Voters' Vicki Martin's willingness to re-examine her position in light of the State Board of Election comments on the issue,” a March 30 post on the BTRO Facebook page states. “The Action Pac is made up of local citizens concerned about our children's education and is not partisan affiliated.  An apology should not be demanded but an apology would be appreciated.”

Although the Schaumberg Township Republican Organization hasn’t endorsed any candidates, it hosted a forum in which candidates from Moms for District 211 attended.

“We're not endorsing anybody in that race and we're certainly not contributing money to them because it's a nonpartisan race and members of our organization may want to support different people,” Folisi said in an interview. “When we have our forums, we don't look at whether a candidate is Republican or Democrat. People in the audience want to put the best person in.”

Moms for District 211 candidates include Jessica Hinkle, Robi Vollkommer, Denise Wilson and Kristen Steel who previously told North Cook News that she wouldn’t accept an endorsement from the teacher’s union even had they offered it.

“Schools account for probably 75% of the property taxes, if not more, and the biggest expense of a school district is teacher salaries, so those have to be looked at carefully,” Folisi said. “We want great teachers and we want to pay them well, but money isn't the only factor that ought to be considered when you're negotiating.”