Voters back incumbents in local school district races

Voters in local school districts were in no mood to throw the bums out on Tuesday.

Tuesday's school board elections were remarkable for the strong showing of incumbents just months after millions of Americans chanted Obama's mantra of change and two years after voters elected fresh faces to local school boards.

The election in Community Unit District 300 was essentially a sweep for incumbents. Board Secretary Anne Miller and board Vice President Karen Roeckner both won re-election.

Dave Alessio, the third candidate to win in District 300, was a quasi-incumbent because of his past service on the school board and long involvement with the district through various committees.

In Huntley Unit District 158, board Secretary Kim Skaja and board President Shawn Green were re-elected easily; they had no competition.

Also emerging from the uncontested race for four 4-year seats on the school board were newcomers Paul Troy and Don Drzal.

The real action was in the race for the sole 2-year seat on the board. It appeared momentum was moving in Mike Skala's favor before Election Day, but it was still a bit surprising how overwhelming Skala's defeat of Larry Snow was.

In an interesting footnote to the Snow-Skala race, election records show conservative activist Jack Roeser contributed $1,365 to Snow's political action committee on April 1, just six days before the election.

It seems that Roeser's contributions to both Snow and Rob Lee were not very helpful, unlike in 2007, when Roeser's money and support helped elect Monica Clark and John Ryan to the District 300 school board.

Candidates and commenters have blasted Snow and Lee for their ties to Roeser, a controversial figure known for his outspoken conservatism and dedicated opposition to higher taxes.

Should this election cycle be a lesson to local reform candidates? Could Roeser's money and support be more of a liability than an asset?