Ethics complaint alleges District 214 used tax dollars for poll polling

By Jim Talamonti | The Center Square
The Center Square

(The Center Square) – A suburban school district is facing an ethics complaint over the alleged use of taxpayer resources to conduct referendum-related polling and voter surveying.

The complaint from Americans for Prosperity Illinois calls for district, Cook County and state officials to investigate Township High School District 214, which is based in Arlington Heights and includes seven other suburbs northwest of Chicago, and EO Sullivan Consulting.

AFP Illinois Deputy State Director Brian Costin said the district continued taxpayer-funded political polling even after receiving a cease-and-desist letter warning that such conduct could violate Illinois law.

“They decided that they didn’t care what state law is and that they were going to do it anyway. They’re basically daring the public to try to stop them from doing something illegal,” Costin told The Center Square.

Costin said it is against the State Ethics Act to engage in political polling for a referendum that may be placed on the ballot.

“It’s all prohibited political activity that they’re not supposed to be engaging in, and our taxpayer dollars shouldn’t be used by local governments to create campaigns to raise our taxes even further,” Costin said.

District 214 Communications and Public Relations Supervisor Lindsey Dombrowski provided The Center Square with a statement in response to the ethics complaint.

“District 214 has received the complaint and is in the process of evaluating it through the appropriate District 214 channels in accordance with Board policy,” Dombrowski said.

Costin said AFP Illinois reached out to the Illinois Attorney General.

“Kwame Raoul and his office refused to do anything about it. He’s saying that this is the jurisdiction of the local state’s attorney on the county level,” Costin said.

Three District 214 residents joined the ethics complaint.

Amy Osterman said she grew up in the district and moved her kids from central Illinois so they could go to school in the same area.

Osterman said she found out why many parents in the district chose to homeschool their children.

“My interactions with the board and with school administration has just been hitting a brick wall,” Osterman told The Center Square.

Osterman said the officials said last October they need $850 million from taxpayers instead of looking at how much they really need.

“It’s how much can we get people to vote for? That’s what’s so frustrating. Where’s the fiduciary responsibility?” Osterman said.

Costin said he sees many local governments crossing the line.

“I believe that it’s running rampant throughout the state of Illinois,” Costin said.

He said almost every time a local government puts a referendum on the ballot, there is what officials refer to as a “public information” campaign.

“I would call it taxpayer-funded campaigning in most circumstances, not every circumstance,” Costin said.