Schillerstrom tosses $100,000 into county board primary fray

DuPage County Board Chairman Robert Schillerstrom, though not running for election, paid for this flier attacking rival Brien Sheahan, who is running for a county board seat in District 2.

Although his name isn't on the ballot, DuPage County board Chairman Robert Schillerstrom is making his presence felt in the Feb. 5 primary election.

Since December, Schillerstrom has donated more than $100,000 to the campaigns of five Republican candidates seeking county board seats -- the lion's share to District 2 challenger Laura Fitzpatrick, according to financial reports from the Illinois Election Board.

But he's not only making an impact with his wallet. Schillerstrom dispatched a mailer this week to all Republican-voting households in District 2 attacking incumbent Brien Sheahan.

"I will say that it's unusual for me to send out mail against county board members," Schillerstrom said, "but I have taken positions against board members in the past."

The mailer accuses Sheahan of accepting campaign donations from a George Ryan crony, awarding county bids to clients, and conflicts of interest. Sheahan denies the accusations.

"I obviously have strong disagreements with Bob," Sheahan said. "He's incompetent and corrupt, and his track record demonstrates both of those things."

Wednesday, Sheahan and fellow District 2 Republican candidate Anna Marie Manzo outlined their plans for ethics reform at the county level and cited Schillerstrom as the reason reforms are needed. His law firm, they said, represents the DuPage Housing Authority, a board comprised of Schillerstrom appointees.

He said he is backing Fitzpatrick in the District 2 race, as well as incumbent Patrick O'Shea. He said he donated $65,000 and loaned $25,000 to Fitzpatrick's campaign "to counter the influence" of Cook County Commissioner Tony Peraica. Manzo is the wife of Peraica's chief of staff.

"I'm opposed to bringing Cook County politics into DuPage," he said.

Manzo said Peraica isn't involved in her campaign.

"He and his wife are very dear friends of ours, but he is not financing me," she said. "We haven't even spent $3,000 yet, and I certainly don't expect it to cost $90,000 to run this campaign."

Fitzpatrick's husband and campaign chairman, Kevin Fitzpatrick, said his wife's campaign has more than 45 donors, but Schillerstrom's contributions made up the majority of her war chest. Fitzpatrick also said he was unaware of the Schillerstrom flier.

"This is a pretty formidable race," Kevin Fitzpatrick said. "But she's not Schillerstrom's puppet, and the mistake that's being made out there is that Laura is buying into what others think; this is a case of the Republican party leadership's confidence in her."

Schillerstrom also donated to District 3 incumbents Tom Bennington and Michael McMahon as well as District 6 incumbent Jim Zay and District 4 challenger Mary Dickson.

County board war chest

A look at where DuPage County Board Chairman Robert Schillerstrom donated to the Feb. 5 county board primary.

$65,000:District 2 challenger Laura Fitzpatrick, plus a $25,000 loan

$12,500: District 3 incumbent Michael McMahon

$12,500: District 3 incumbent Tom Bennington

$8,000: District 6 incumbent Jim Zay

$5,000: District 4 challenger Mary Dickson