Oak Park and River Forest High School’s Community Caucus endorsed two candidates for the District 200 Board of Education on Monday, neither of whom are incumbents, and one endorsement short for the three open seats.
The caucus released a statement Monday that it had endorsed Ralph Lee, a former OPRF teacher, and John Allen, an attorney who works for the Illinois Department of Healthcare and Family Services.
Three seats are open on the board for the April 17 election. A third seat on the board is open after member Barbara Fernandez announced that she would not seek re-election. Incumbents Barry Greenwald, board president, and Yasmin Ranney, board vice president, both said they were disappointed in not receiving an endorsement. Both said they hoped that the pass would not affect their campaigns and that they expected to win. Greenwald and Ranney, both running for a second term, were endorsed by the caucus in the 2003 election.
Sharon Patchak-Layman, currently a member of the Dist. 97 Board of Education who’s running for the high school board, declined to be interviewed by the caucus and was not considered for an endorsement.
Lee, 69, a retired chemistry teacher at OPRF, on Monday said that he was grateful for the endorsement. Lee has lived in Oak Park 29 years and said his three issues for running are the achievement gap, relieving the tax burden on voters and controlling spending at the high school.
Lee is married and has three children, two who went through Oak Park public schools. Lee learned of his endorsement on Sunday. This is his first run for any elected office, he said.
Allen, a River Forest resident, said that he was “very honored and pleased” to received the endorsement.
Allen has lived in River Forest since 2001. He said he’s also concerned about the achievement gap, and decided to run after talking with people in River Forest who felt that their community should be represented on the board, though current member Jacques Conway is a River Forest resident.
Allen, who has a daughter in the 7th grade at Roosevelt Middle School in River Forest, ran previously for public office in Virginia.
The Dist. 200 caucus typically endorses candidates for every open seat, but has in previous elections not endorsed a full slate of candidates. The decision not to this time concerned Ranney.
“That they endorsed two people who are new and chose not to endorse a third is a little troubling,” she said. “It makes me wonder why they did not think that a third person should get an endorsement. If a third person had wasn’t an incumbent, would they have gotten an endorsement?”
Greenwald said he and Ranney will run as an “unofficial” slate, and said they will consider inviting the other candidates to run as a slate.
Greenwald and Ranney were told of the endorsements on Sunday. The candidates interviewed with caucus members on Saturday. Greenwald and Ranney received a call the following day from caucus chair Kimberly Werner that were passed over. Both said they didn’t know why they weren’t endorsed.
The caucus is said to be composed of Oak Park and community stakeholders, but to maintain anonymity the group disbands after making its endorsement. The identity of members is kept secret, along with which stakeholder groups members represent or belong to. The actual number of members is said to be anywhere from 20-25 to 25-30. Werner said every member of the caucus is there as an “individual” and not representing a group.
A caucus member is asked to join by a nominating committee established by the chair and co-chair, but can decline the offer. In 2003, the caucus made its endorsement before the filing period for candidates.
The caucus in this election cycle made its endorsements after the filing period, which ran from Jan. 29 to Feb. 5.
The anonymity of the group also concerned Ranney. Ranney, who said she respected group’s work and likes the idea of a community caucus, said the public should know what stakeholder groups are being represented in the caucus.
“If there were some level of transparency to it, in the sense of who are these people serving in this group, that would be helpful,” she said. “I don’t think names should be made public, but people need to know where this composition is derived from. It’s only troubling because I don’t know, and I don’t know if anyone knows.”
Greenwald said he agreed with the idea of a community caucus in general.
“The thought of a community caucus, when comprised of stakeholders, provides a very important service to Oak Park and River Forest,” Greenwald said. “This is a group of people who have said, ‘We’ve taken the time to get to know the candidates and these are the people we think should serve.'”
But Werner said that after serving for one year as chair, she came to the decision that the caucus has run its course and should be discontinued. Werner said that while she respected the group’s work, she was concerned about the “closed-door” nature of the process, and that one group was telling citizens who to vote for.
“One group having an undue amount of influence is what concerns me. It’s the public that goes into the voting booth, not the caucus, so it’s the public who should choose.”
Werner added that because the caucus is “political,” legally it can’t work with non-profit groups, such as the League of Women Voters of Oak Park and River Forest. Election law forbids not-for-profit groups from supporting specific candidates, but they can, for instance, hold public forums that all candidates can participate in.
“The issue is the level of accountability,” Werner said. “There’s no real accountability. Who knows what criteria was used to endorse candidates? I don’t know. [This group] conducted themselves well, but what if they didn’t?”
CONTACT: tdean@wjinc.com
