Activists in the Lake County Tea Party have received over 300 pages of email correspondence between school officials via FOIA. The emails uncover appalling actions by these officials. The following from  Paul Mitchell at the Lake County Tea Party exposes information about this past school board election, and the consequences that the President of the teacher’s union, Maria Garcia, feared would harm the union’s ability to collectively bargain, if any of the Lake County Tea Party affiliated candidates won the election. The emails how the tactics the officials would use to prevent that occurrence.

The following was sent to District 46 Superintendent Ellen Correll, Assistant Superintendent Lynn Barkley, union leaders Christine Wilson, Diane Elfering, and fellow incumbent candidate Sue Facklam,  from Garcia’s email account in District 30 (Wed., Feb. 23rd, 11:34 AM), where Garcia works as a teacher.

“I think that all members of both Unions should be apprised of this information… There will be no collective bargaining with those 3 on the board. I am very afraid that Sue and I will not have the funds necessary to fight a ‘party’.”

In the following email, Facklam, a voter registrar writes the following, referring to registering high school students to vote.

“Don’t let them turn us in; gifts to register to vote is probably illegal! I did offer Erika [Garcia’s 18-year-old daughter] more gift cards if she can gather up more friends!”(Wed., March 2nd, 10:14 AM to Mary Garcia at her D30 account.) It is a felony to offer remuneration to anyone for voting or registering to vote.

Mitchell explains, “The emails reveal evidence of extensive contributions, expenditures, and in-kind contributions that, by law, ought to have triggered formation of a campaign committee, and been reported to the State Board of Elections.”

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Our mantra, “We all go forward together, or it all ends right here!” For the past 18 months, I’ve been saying that Republicans in Illinois could start winning elections if the establishment/patronage wing married the reform wing of the party. Since the Illinois “gravy train” was being derailed by its functional bankruptcy, establishment Republicans finally got the message. And, today, we see the culmination of this unfolding at the ballot box and in the volunteer centers.

Government reform in Illinois has a fighting chance. Here’s the bell-weather state house races on reform…

In a central Illinois state senate district, 9-12 groups formed over the past year boast 3,000 members and have lifted Sam McCann to a slim pre-election lead vs. Sen. Deanna Demuzio. The Demuzio family held this state senate seat for over 35 years. In desperation, Sen. Demuzio spent over $2.4 million and set the record for the most money ever spent by a candidate in a statehouse race. McCann spent $1 million and has the energy of the movement plus the “wave”. Prediction: Sam McCann by 3 percentage points.

In a state representative district outside of St. Louis, businessman Dwight Kay is running with a fierce ground game of seasoned volunteers. The Kay volunteer armies go all the way back to 1998 when the last “reformer” was elected statewide, U.S. Senator Peter Fitzgerald. Kay’s opponent is Jay Hoffman, an 18 year incumbent and best known to be corrupt Governor Rod Blagojevich’s “floor leader”. Hoffman started the election season with $1 million in the bank and he has had to spend it all. Prediction: Dwight Kay wins by 2 percentage points.

In the 43rd state senate district, the now nationally recognized “One Mom” vs. the Machine, Cedra Crenshaw spent $200,000 vs. Sen. AJ Wilhelmi reportedly spending $1 million.

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From the Orlando Sentinel:

If U.S. Rep. Alan Grayson were a rock star, his latest PR blitz — a DVD sent to tens of thousands of Central Florida residents — would be called Grayson’s Greatest Hits.

The 90-minute disc features video highlights from his first term in office, including one of him grilling Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke and another in which the Orlando Democrat preaches on the need to teach schoolchildren about the U.S. Constitution.

The DVD comes wrapped inside a mailer covered with promotional slogans: “Congressman Alan Grayson, Hard at Work for You,” “He works hard. He pays attention. He gets things done,” and “Video DVD Inside: Watch Congressman Grayson in Action!”

In many ways, it’s the perfect campaign video — with one key difference.

Thanks to perks given to all members of Congress, it’s not Grayson’s campaign but taxpayers who footed the nearly $73,000 bill to produce and mail the DVD to 100,000 homes in Grayson’s district of Lake, Marion, Orange and Osceola counties.

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