College of DuPage board members should recuse themselves over conflict of interest

Newly elected College of DuPage Board members Sandy Kim, Kim Savage and Nancy Svoboda along with new board chairperson Kathy Wessel should recuse themselves from future negotiations with the teachers union over salary. After all, their campaigns for last month's election was partially funded by the union.

The issue raised it's head during a board meeting this week. The Illinois Education Association spent $34,000 to support these four candidates through a political action committee called Friends for Education.

So, having been elected partially due to support from educators, how can these board members honestly negotiate a contract worth approximately $100 million without a sense of impropriety? But that's not all. According to the Illinois State Board of Elections website, Friends for Education has an address on the College of DuPage campus! This means a PAC owned by an education union is headquartered in a taxpayer funded school. So, these folks working out of a government office are fundraising for a union that is promoting elected candidates - candidates who will then vote on salary contracts. Certainly sounds like a conflict of interest and the board members would best serve the people of this county by recusing themselves from salary negotiations.

This conflict of interest at the College of DuPage, the third largest single-campus community college in the nation, is a microcosm of conflicts of interest and pay to play politics that permeate Illinois.