During his campaign to upset Carpentersville School District 300 Board President Mary Fioretti, challenger John Ryan said he would try to ban vendors from making campaign contributions to school bond and rate hike referendums, as well as to school board candidacies.

Now, both the Daily Herald and Northwest Herald have articles on the initiative that was inspired by Cary Grade School District 26 Board member Chris Jenner.

Before the March 2006 tax hike referendums McHenry County Blog revealed extensive contributions from District 300 vendors to what is now known as Advance 300.

And just Wednesday, the Northwest Herald recapped this and more:

• Wm. Blair & Company donated $2,500 to Advance 300 and ended up with all the bond business.
• The architectural firm of Burnidge Cassell & Associates, Inc., gave Advance 300 and its predecessor tax hike committees $20,000 and ended up designing the school buildings.

Are those coincidences or what?

If the contributions were to Governor Rod Blagojevich and state contracts had been awarded, it would be called “pay to play.”

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John Ryan’s photograph can be seen at the upper left, while Chris Jenner is on the right.