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D300 ethics complaint referred to
Madigan
BY TERESA
BLACK
Community Unit School
District 300's legal counsel is seeking help from Illinois Attorney
General Lisa Madigan about how to handle an ethics complaint filed
against Board of Education member Mary Warren.
The case may be the first test of a new state ethics law in terms
of claims against a school board member, officials said.
District 300's Board of Education appointed a three-member panel
last week to investigate whether Warren violated a district ethics
policy by working with a political action committee on a
referendum-related phone survey last summer, officials said.
Board members previously had decided to review a complaint filed
against Warren themselves, as permitted under state law, but word
that Warren planned to call three fellow board members as witnesses
at her hearing left the board without a quorum to vote on the
matter.
Warren did not immediately return a phone call Tuesday afternoon
about why she plans to call board President John Court, Secretary
Anne Miller and member Mary Fioretti to testify.
"I have no idea specifically about what she plans to ask," Court
said.
The investigation started after Warren used funds from the local
political action committee Schools Now last summer to hire a public
relations company that polled 500 residents about the school
district and a hypothetical tax increase. Warren worked for Schools
Now before she was elected to the school board in 2001.
On Sept. 7, a District 300 resident filed a complaint with the
School Board, citing possible violations of an ethics policy the
board adopted in June to comply with a new state law. The
complainant also objected to Warren using district financial staff
to craft the survey.
The State Officials and Employees Ethics Act, enacted by the
General Assembly in November 2003, prohibits government officers --
including school board members -- from participating in certain
public opinion polls.
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