Three Challenges to District 65 Board Candidates
We are all on the same team, you guys
I apologize for being slow on stories this week, like everyone else in Evanston, I’ve been sick with a non-COVID mystery illness. If you see me this week, run away. Shout out to the Northshore Immediate Care on Main St. and Chicago for patching me up today.1
A local citizen has challenged the applications for three candidates for the District 65 school board. The challenges are to the following folks:
Brandon Utter: The challenge disputes whether Brandon is registered to vote at the same address as listed on his application paperwork. I can personally attest that Brandon lives in Evanston - we coached soccer together and I have literally been to his house. So the basis of this challenge is not entirely clear to me.
Peter Bogira: The challenge claims that Peter did not file his Statement of Economic Interests (SEI) form. However, I’ve seen his proof of receipt from the County which indicates they did receive his SEI form. I’d look up the form myself but the County SEI website is always out of date and missing records.
Anita Opdycke: The challenge asserts that she did not file a statement of candidacy with her application. She will be meeting with the election board on 12/5 to reconcile.
You can read background on these candidates at this link.
The candidates will have an opportunity on 12/5 (Thursday) to dispute these challenges in front of the election board. I’ve spoken with all three candidates who confirm they will be at the hearings and had to eat the expenses of hiring a lawyer.
The challenges were filed by Neal Weingarden. Mr. Weingarden is the founder of Digital4Dems and has worked for various democratic offices including Robyn Gabel and the Democratic Party of Evanston. I initially made contact with Mr. Weingarden on LinkedIn last Wednesday but have been unable to reach him for comment since then.
Loyalty Oaths
In unrelated news, I didn’t appreciate that candidates still have the option to submit a “Loyalty Oath” testifying whether they are a member of the communist party and/or have advocated the overthrow of the US government. I’m now genuinely curious to know who hasn’t filed the loyalty oath. 🤔
Polling this Spring?
It’s not too late to take my survey on which candidates you’d like to hear more about:
This is a very unscientific survey, but I will publish the results of the survey later this week.
Speaking of, I am planning on conducting actual bona-fide polls of the Evanston elections this Spring - potentially two - one in February and one in the last week of March. I’m looking for someone with experience doing either IVR or phone polling. Specifically I need someone to help me setup all the moving pieces, not necessarily help interpret the results. If you’re that person or know that person, drop me an email tom@foiagras.com.
I still wish they had opened a Goddess and the Grocer in that location, though!!
Hi everyone. Christopher DeNardo, candidate for school board here. I attended a training session for potential candidates for IL office put on by the Independent Voters of Illinois-Independent Precinct Organization. The session covered the process of challenging a candidate filing and went over a few example cases. Based on what I learned, challenging a candidate's filing is more common in larger, partisan races, such as those for state senate. It is not uncommon for challenges to take place even within a party primary. However, the examples were all from races that required hundreds of petition signatures to gain ballot access, not the 50 required for non-partisan, local school board races.
I would be curious to know the reasons why these three candidates were targeted and if we can expect more challenges coming in the future. The challenge process is a legitimate tool to combat fraud and a candidate filing should be strong enough to withstand a challenge. Even so, these tactics seem a little too "big-league" for a local school board race.
Full disclosure, Brandon Utter and I are both Bessie Rhodes parents and I can attest that he is indeed a legitimate resident of Evanston/District 65.
Weingarden Was also on current board member May Wilkins’ campaign payroll last year so these objections automatically make these candidates more interesting to me.
Anyone the old guard is against is worth taking seriously in my view.