Union Cash Drives Darien Pro-Tax Hike Group

DARIEN, IL – A local political action committee is keeping secret its only donor. But the state Board of Elections says it must reveal the information.

Diogenes PAC, which has a Downers Grove mailing address, states in its report that it started with seed money of $95,000 when it formed in late September. Diogenes' leadership is made up of three teachers in Center Cass School District 66, which serves parts of Darien and Downers Grove.

Half of the money has gone to the Save Center Cass School District 66 committee. That group is pushing a nearly 20 percent increase in the district's part of the property tax bill. The issue is on the Nov. 8 ballot.

In an interview Monday, Matt Dietrich, a spokesman for the Illinois Board of Elections, said Diogenes must amend its report to list its donors.

He also said Diogenes, which submitted a handwritten report, must file electronically, given that it has raised more than $10,000.

A message left through Diogenes' email address on Monday was not returned.

On Sept. 27, the Save Center Cass group reported that it received $20,000 from the Center Cass Education Association, the local teachers union.

In an interview a few days later, Elizabeth Uribe, co-chairwoman of Save Center Cass, said her group should have reported that the $20,000 came from Diogenes, not the teachers union. She said her group would amend its report, which it did two weeks later.

Patch discovered through other online records that the money apparently did come from the teachers union.

In its report, the Illinois PAC for Education, the political arm of the Illinois Education Association, listed giving $95,000 to the Center Cass teachers union on Sept. 9. Diogenes, which formed 17 days later, listed that same amount as its seed money.

Uribe did not return a message for comment Monday.

It remains unclear why Diogenes was apparently created as a pass-through committee for union donations.

On Aug. 10, the local teachers union gave $3,000 directly to Save Center Cass. To date, that is its only direct contribution to Save Center Cass during this election cycle, according to the committee's reports.

In a June 28 referendum, 60 percent of voters rejected a 24 percent hike in Center Cass.

For that election, Save Center Cass raised $7,166. Forty percent of the money came from the union. The rest of the donations were so small that the committee was not required to report contributors' names.

In recent weeks, Save Center Cass has issued mailers for the tax increase. If the referendum fails, one says, home values will fall.

The group warns in another mailer that if the school district's finances slide, "state bureaucrats could take over Center Cass schools. Fact: The state could unilaterally make cuts & increase taxes without voter approval."

The group also says the Center Cass tax rate is less than it was a quarter century ago.

"Even if the referendum passes, taxes will still be less than surrounding districts," a flyer says.

Last month, the school board described the district's financial situation as troubled. Officials said they didn't have enough money to make it through a full school year.