Illinois Public Library Board Sued Over Referendum Campaign

Activist Rob Sherman sues Indian Trails Public Library over referendum campaign. (Chicago Tribune, 5/18/2011)

Excerpt: A lawsuit filed Wednesday seeks to overturn the results of a suburban library referendum on the grounds that library officials illegally advocated for its approval.

Well-known Buffalo Grove activist Rob Sherman is among five people who sued Indian Trails Public Library, saying library officials' efforts to acquaint voters with the April ballot initiative went beyond merely providing information and spilled into advocacy, which is a violation of state election law.

Voters in the Wheeling-based library district narrowly approved the tax rate referendum, which officials had said would have a nominal impact on property taxes.

Sherman and the other plaintiffs say the library improperly spent thousands of dollars to promote the referendum's passage with, among other tactics, campaign literature that touted, "Grow your library, not your tax bill."