District 15 winners helped out by affluent, controversial bond issue

If you didn't support last year's controversial $27 million bond issue proposal in Palatine Township Elementary District 15, chances are you didn't support the incumbents who brought it to you in the first place.

A precinct-by-precinct breakdown of Tuesday's election results shows the neighborhoods that most opposed the November referendum overwhelmingly backed the trio of newcomers who ousted board stalwarts Gerald Chapman and James Ekeberg.

The anti-tax, anti-deficit spending message circulated by challengers Scott Herr, Gerard Iannuzzelli and Manjula Sriram — whose slate decried the bond issue as fiscally irresponsible — also resonated with residents of higher-income neighborhoods, an examination of the 88 precincts shows.

“I don't know that it was the biggest factor, but people living in affluent areas probably did think more about the bond issue that was on the ballot last November,” said Herr, the six-way race's top vote-getter with 21 percent.

All precincts in Inverness, where median household income according to U.S. Census data is more than $133,000, heavily voted in favor of the challenger slate.

The most lopsided of Inverness' returns came in Precinct 3 near Bradwell Road, where the challengers earned 82 percent of the vote. Even Board President Gerald Chapman's home precinct near Ela and Dundee roads saw 65 percent of voters go against the incumbents. Last November, 75 and 79 percent of voters in those same precincts opposed the bond issue, respectively.

A similar trend can be found in the Northeast portion of Palatine, generally considered to be more diverse and lower-income.

In two precincts north of Rand and Dundee roads, where the median household income is closer to $40,000, the challengers won 33 and 39 percent of the vote. In November, the majority of those voters supported the $27 million bond increase.

Herr, who will be sworn in at the April 27 board meeting along with Iannuzzelli and Sriram, said that more than an area's income, he saw a correlation between support for the challengers and the precincts he and his running mates walked.

“Where he went door-to-door, there was a clear indication it impacted the results,” Herr said.

The bond issue also contributed to the challengers' clear victory in another way. The widespread campaigning against the referendum provided the challengers with a base from which to work once their campaigns began.

“The infrastructure from the referendum vote was already there with the e-mail addresses, the volunteers and the message,” Palatine Township Republican Organization Committeeman Aaron Del Mar said. “They could basically ride the coattails of that referendum.”

Del Mar thinks a majority of wealthier voters opposed the bond issue — and later the incumbents — because the tax increase would be much more substantial for homes assessed at higher values.

Though his organization stayed neutral in the nonpartisan District 15 school board race, Del Mar said the PTRO held candidates forums and meet-and-greet events. Some of his more active precinct captains campaigned on their own for the challengers in the affluent area around Fremd High School, where the newcomers dominated the vote returns.

“Bottom line, I think the people who worked the hardest won,” Del Mar said.