Two Flyers. Five Questions. Straight Answers.
Two documents circulated ahead of the Park Board vote. Both raise questions residents are entitled to have answered. Both also contain claims that are wrong.
Archive note: this ran on the morning of October 15, 2026, the day of the Caucus Fall Town Hall. It is kept here as published.
Tonight's Park Board vote deserves facts, not fear. Here is what is true, what is not, and a vote for participation.
Two documents are circulating about tonight's Town Hall. One is “Endorsed For A Reason!” from Winnetka Wins. The other is “What's Really at Stake in Winnetka's Park District Election?” signed by Park District Commissioner Colleen Root as a resident and member of the Caucus.
Both raise questions residents are entitled to have answered. Both also contain claims that are wrong, and need to be called out.
The five questions
Ms. Root asks five questions. They are fair to ask. Here are the answers, as we know them.
Who paid for ElectionBuddy? The note says the Caucus described the funder as an anonymous private donor. No. The Caucus Council is paying for the platform itself.
Who is paying for the challengers' campaign? About $3,000, underwritten by a Winnetka resident, to encourage people to register and vote. They believe Village decisions are underrepresented by residents in their 30s, 40s and 50s — and both the Village Council and the Caucus Council have suggested Park candidates are biased against investing in Winnetka.
Is anyone recruiting out-of-state voters? Not the Seaman, Raith and Kunkle campaign. Its outreach has pointed people to the Caucus's own online registration form, and nothing else. If you do not live in Winnetka, please do not register. We say that plainly because it should not have to be said.
How will the Caucus make sure only eligible residents vote? Caucus leadership is checking every online registration personally, and working with ElectionBuddy each voter will have an individual registration number, whether they vote online or on paper. Ms. Root alleges that someone outside Illinois registered with an out-of-state address as a test. That registration was false on purpose, and it is exactly what a manual check by the Caucus Executive Committee exists to catch. We support the check, and we support the Executive Committee's effort to ensure a fair election. And with that, we will accept the result — win or lose.
What about parkland? The note warns of “privatization and commercialization.” Most of the businesses in downtown Winnetka are privately held, by entrepreneurs. We should be celebrating those small business owners, not using them as a warning. This is fearmongering.
What the note leaves out
Ms. Root's note is signed “Winnetka Resident and Caucus Member,” which is true. What is also true is that Ms. Root is a sitting Park Board commissioner, and that in April 2025 she ran with Steve Juliusson — now on the Caucus slate — as the Open The Parks ticket. Readers weighing her questions should know that. It does not make the questions illegitimate. It makes them less neutral than the signature suggests.
The note also says the three challengers were “not nominated by either the Parks Committee or the full Caucus Council.” That is true, and beside the point. The Caucus's own bylaws provide for a challenge to a slate by nomination from the floor, with the vote held at Town Hall. Nomination from the floor is how Winnetka's 111-year-old Caucus system was built to check itself against a misaligned small group.
What the other flyer gets wrong
The Winnetka Wins email says “over 68 volunteer residents” evaluated the candidates. Not true. The Caucus Council this year had 56 volunteer members in total, and the Park interviews were done by a slating committee of nine, not 68.
It goes on to blame David Seaman for a beach plan that failed. When the original beach permits were pulled in June 2022, it was both Seaman and Cynthia Rapp — one of the slated candidates — who voted to pull them.
And it says the slate stands for collaboration with the Village. On May 28, when the Park Board voted 5–2 to pursue an agreement with the Village over Centennial and the dog beach, Seaman voted yes and Rapp voted no.
There is a great deal of misinformation being passed around in flyers, on Nextdoor and in the Grand parking lot. Get involved and do your homework. Winnetka is falling behind.
Be heard — tonight at 7:30
Tonight is a chance to choose a Park District board that gets things done, and to elect people who have independence, varied backgrounds, no agenda, and a willingness to listen to the residents of Winnetka.
OTW supports participation in our local government, with dialogue, transparency and solid debate. We would rather seed a good, clean argument about the issues that serve our community than any argument about motives. Residents can disagree about the lakefront and still trust each other's good faith.
That is the Winnetka worth voting for.
Related: The Caucus Is Not the Answer. You Are. and Get in the Game — register to vote online