Batavia rec center foes miss deadline
Batavians Against Debt, a group opposing the building of a Batavia Park District recreation center, has received more than $26,389 in campaign contributions from a Peoria-based corporation, Black Heron LLC.
A Schedule A-1 form filed by Jack Teplitz, the chairman and treasurer of the group, was filed Friday with the Illinois State Board of Elections.
Teplitz is the registered agent for Black Heron, according to paperwork filed with the Illinois Secretary of State Sept. 15. It shares a street address with Jack B. Teplitz and Associates Law Firm.
The A-1 does not specify if the contributions were cash donations, in-kind donations of materials or services, or loans.
Black Heron contributed $9,233.13 on Oct. 7, $8,156.44 on Oct. 13 and $9,000 on Oct. 21, according to the report.
State law requires contributions of more than $500, made within 30 days of an election, to be reported within two business days of the contribution. The election is Nov. 2. The penalty for late filing is a fine of up to $5,000.
The committee also filed its D2 Pre-Election Report Friday, four days late. The D2 covers the committee's receipts and expenditures from July 1 to Oct. 3.
The D2 says that the committee started and ended that time period with $100, received no contributions and spent nothing.
Teplitz did not return phone calls or an e-mail request for comment.
Meanwhile, a pro-recreation center group, Building a Better Batavia, has filed an application with the board of elections to be change its status to nonprofit organization rather than a political committee.
Nonprofit organizations are still required to file semiannual and pre-election D2 financial reports if they accept or spend $5,000 on a candidate's campaign, a ballot initiative or electioneering within a 12-month period. But they do not have to file what are called A-1s records of aggregate contributions of $500 or more (by individuals, businesses, committees or other entities) received in the 30 days before an election.
Including Building a Better Batavia, the state board has 12 registered nonprofits.
Building a Better Batavia's co-chairman, Jim Purcell, has said the organization has filed an application with the Internal Revenue Service to be considered a 501(c) 4 nonprofit organization. A spokesman for the state election board says that nonprofit organizations don't have to supply proof of that IRS status.
Proponents of the recreation center, including Purcell, have criticized Batavians Against Debt because it does not print its members names, including Teplitz', on its website or on the mailing it sent out last week. On its three mailings, Building a Better Batavia listed its co-chairmen and treasurer.