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Schools

Tea Party Joins Critics of D46 Incumbents' Campaign

Email and campaign literature come under fire.

Chairman of the Lake County Tea Party, Lennie Jarratt, has provided Patch with a copy of an email from Grayslake school board president Mary Garcia to State Sen. Suzi Schmidt asking for help accessing VoteBuilder for her campaign for re-election.

Sent from Garcia’s D30 day job email, but signed with her D46 contact information, it would appear that the line had been crossed in terms of using her position at the school district for her campaign.

Garcia, however, refutes the allegation and has provided the email correspondence which followed her request to Schmidt.

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“The email was sent on a Saturday and the district rule is that you cannot use district email for personal use during compensated time. I was also not asking for money to buy the program, but access to the list of voters.  Suzi was not familiar with the program, but suggested we get the information from the County Clerk’s office.  (Fellow board candidate) Sue Facklam and I made the same request to Nancy Shepardson of the Democratic Party. Nancy let me know that we could not have the access code unless you voted in the primary or were part of a PAC, which I am not,” said Garcia.

 At Thursday's board meeting Board member Ray Millington refuted claims that a flyer for Garcia and Facklam had gone home to parents at Grayslake Middle School on, Friday, March 11th.

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This charge has been denied by Garcia and board member Ray Millington who designed and printed the flyers for the incumbents.  “This would have been impossible since I printed the literature on Saturday, March 12,” Millington said.

Christine Wilson, Paraprofessionals and School-related Personnel (PRSP) union representative for D46, publicly commented at last week’s board meeting on receiving a flyer for Garcia and Facklam from the Lake County Federation of Teachers (LCFT). 

“I have to say I was shocked to receive a flyer supporting these candidates. I have nothing personally against them.  I’m a union representative, but I think our job is to teach.  It’s the parent’s job to vote,” said Wilson.

Patch has also been provided with a copy of an LCFT email that has been reported to have been making its way around D46.  The email was an invitation to attend the Madison Rally on Sunday, March 6, “to show our continued support for our union brothers and sisters.”

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