Candidates a team? 'Yes' in Batavia 101, not exactly in others

When is an election slate not a slate? When it is just three people splitting the bill for large campaign signs, according to Geneva school board candidate Mike McCormick.

He and candidates Tina Yagla and Ann Murtaugh are listed on red and white signs throughout Geneva and northern Batavia. Each also have individual signs.

"We met a while back and decided to share expenses on some signs, but we are not running as a slate in any way," McCormick said Wednesday. "As I said last night (at a forum) I think all the candidates running are great folks, and if someone else wants to share costs I am all in. I just want to get my name out to the community."

McCormick is an incumbent. He has voted against increases in the district's property tax levy for operations. Yagla is billing herself as a "taxpayer advocate," and has raised questions about increases in property taxes and number of district employees while school enrollment has declined.

Batavia

In Batavia, three people formed the GROBatavia team because they have similar views on some issues.

They especially agree on the idea of reining in property tax increases. Members Bill Gabriel, Ron Rechenmacher and Michelle Olache are calling for the school board to freeze its property tax levy for one year instead of raising the operations portion by the rate of inflation or more, as is allowed by the state's property tax cap law.

They also believe that all district data that is eligible for public view should be made available in such a way that it is easy for the public to find without having to file Freedom of Information Act requests.

But they don't promise to vote as a bloc on everything, according to this statement on their website: "Our team, by nature, will often vote similarly, however, we have made no commitment to always vote the same direction. We have discovered over months of working together that we share different views on many subjects, and we value each other's individual insight - just as we would on the Board of Education with seven members."

Kaneland

In the Kaneland school district, all the candidates said they weren't running on any slates, when asked a question at a February forum.

But incumbent Tony Valente authorized Dan Nagel and Jerry Elliott to file his election nomination petitions for him, and the three have expressed support for comments the others have made. Nagel and Elliott have been attending school board meetings together.

And the three were forced to defend their election petitions for the exact same reason, as they were accused of using an incorrect form to collect signatures.

The challenges were filed by a woman who is a Kaneland High School teacher, union negotiator and district resident. Similar challenges were also filed by three incumbents with whom Valente has tangled during board meetings: Gale Pavlak, Peter Lopatin and Teresa Witt.