North Cook News

Sources close to the disbanding of the League of Woman Voters Park Ridge chapter by the national League board say they are still unsure about what led to the September 30 decision to shut down the 70-year-old chapter.

“They said bylaws were broken, but they were never clear about exactly what bylaws were broken and how they were broken,” said one source on a group call, who asked to remain anonymous over fear of retribution for speaking out. “All we heard was that it was something ‘horrifying,’ but what exactly we don’t know.”

In its September 30 statement, the national board, which describes the League as a nonpartisan, grassroots organization working to protect and expand voting rights, said it made its move “after more than a year of intervention that included numerous attempts to help [the chapter's board of directors] to resolve multiple leadership and governance challenges coupled with an investigation into the [chapter’s] compliance with [the national board] principles and policies.”

Members of an interim board, including Cindy Grau, Jennifer Kuzminksi, Beth Rankin and Kim Shaefer, released a statement in response:

“Despite the lack of investigation and non-compliance with its own violation resolution procedure, the [national board] voted to withdraw recognition of the 70-year-old [chapter] on September 30th,” the statement said. “No attempt at resolution, remediation, mediation, or assistance was made by [the national board] to the interim board or [Park Ridge] membership. No option of a probationary period or restorative process was offered.”

Former president of the Park Ridge chapter Julianna Lopez de Philbrook also chimed in saying that she “wholeheartedly supported” the national board’s decision. One that, she said, was based on the finding of a “thorough Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DIE) investigation that revealed serious non-compliance issues, including violations of bylaws, DEI policies, and nonpartisan policies.”

The source said that although the members of the Park Ridge chapter were careful to adhere to the League’s stated non-partisan commitment, many are members of local left-leaning groups, including Action Ridge and Spotlight EE, that endorse and work to elect progressive candidates.

“They work around the League by getting involved with these other groups,” the source said. “There’s a lot of crossover going on.”

The League has abolished its local chapters in the past. In 2020, the national board dissolved its Nevada chapter for what then chapter president Sondra Cosgrove told the Las Vegas Review-Journal was an attempt to “limit her vocal criticism of state Democrats, including Gov. Steve Sisolak, and despite being a nonpartisan organization, moved to force her into using a group of League-approved partners — none of whom are Republicans.”

In a profile of the League, the Capital Research Center, a Washington D.C.-based watchdog group, said that although the voting group is known for its educating voters through it state and local chapter affiliates, it actually “spends most of its programming dollars on lobbying and issue advocacy operations.”

“The League’s current platform supports tax-and-spend policies, government-run healthcare, a wide range of increased welfare handouts, a ban on certain low-priced handguns, and support for international organizations including the International Criminal Court to which even the liberal Obama administration did not cede U.S. sovereignty,” CRC’s InfluenceWatch reported.

The League, moreover, has received support from major liberal donors such as the Ford Foundation, George Soros’s Foundation to Promote Open Society, the New York State United Teachers government worker labor union, and the Tides Foundation.

Neither the Illinois League of Women voters nor the national League responded to requests for comment.