Another outside group is spending money to back candidates Lyons Township High School District 204 school board race.

According to the recent report filed with the Illinois State Board of Elections, the People Who Play By The Rules political action committee, which is led by conservative radio talk show host Dan Proft, spent $3,725.56 on March 23 to produce and send a mailer supporting candidates Frank Evans, David Herndon and Tim Vlcek who are competing against four others in the race for three seats on the District 204 Board of Education.

Proft is a long time conservative activist in Illinois who now lives in Florida but remains very active in Illinois politics and co-hosts a morning talk show on WIND-AM radio.

In 2010, Proft ran for governor if Illinois and finished sixth in a seven-person Republican primary field, receiving nearly 8% of the vote. Proft has remained a major player in conservative politics in Illinois. Last year the People Who Play The Rules PAC spent heavily on television ads attacking Gov. J.B. Pritzker.

The mailer supporting Evans, Herndon and Vlcek comes at a time when liberal outside groups are supporting Tim Albores and incumbents Kari Dillon and Jill Beda Daniels in the school board race.

The LTHS teachers’ union, acting through the Illinois Education Association, and a newly formed local group called Support Our School have sent out mailers supporting Albores, Daniels and Dillon while attacking Evans, Herndon, and Vlcek.

The Democratic Party of Illinois, in an unprecedented move, has also intervened school board races throughout Illinois. Last week, the party sent a direct mail piece to District 204 voters explicitly endorsing Albores, Daniels and Dillon

The also party has created a website called Defend Our Schools IL where voters can enter their address and see how the Democratic Party of Illinois views local school board candidates.

In the LTHS school board race, the Democratic Party of Illinois website gives positive checkmarks to Albores, Daniels and Dillon stating, “We believe this candidate shares our values” and gives red exclamation mark warning signs to Evans, Herndon and Vlcek, categorizing them as “pursuing an extremist political agenda.”

The Democratic Party of Illinois website had no characterization of candidate Justin Clark, who told the Landmark that he is the only candidate in the race that is not receiving support from an outside organization.

“If voted in, I will be beholden to current and future LTHS students,” Clark told the Landmark in a text message.

Calls or text messages to Proft, Evans, Herndon and Vlcek were not immediately returned.

Daniels told the Landmark that she has not coordinated with any of the groups supporting her. She said she is running an independent campaign and is not part of a slate with Albores and Dillon.

“Anyone that is supporting us as a slate is doing so on their own,” Daniels said.

Daniels said that the Support Our Schools group is distributing signs supporting her, Dillon and Albores, but that she had nothing to do with that.

“There are joint signs out there by Support Our Schools, but I had no knowledge nor approval of same, but I thank everyone for their support of me as a candidate,” Daniels said.

Daniels said that she does not know Terrie Pickerill, a longtime Democratic strategist, who registered the Support Our School website.

“I have no idea who that is,” Daniels said.

Daniels said that she only knows of Jonathan Almer, one of two people who created Support Our Schools LLC, which is funding the Support Our School website and Support Our School mailers, because their children are friends.

“I know him only through our boys being friends, but I had no conversations or discussions with him regarding this,” Daniels said.

Daniels created her own campaign committee to pay for her signs and other campaign expenses. She said she expects to spend about $5,000 of her own money on her campaign and said that she is not accepting campaign contributions.