Will Wetzel for Decatur Public School Board stated in a March 6th Facebook Post that he was "Labor Endorsed" and listed "Decatur Trades & Labor Assembly | DEA | DFTA | DESPA | AFSCME".
Decatur Trades & Labor Assembly represents over 30 unions, which includes 4 AFSCME unions. AFSCME Delegates at the DTLA Endorsement meeting voted in favor of endorsing Will Wetzel, according to Amy Rueff, treasurer of DTLA & chair of the Committee on Political education.
Despite multiple requests with several individuals, we have collected zero proof that any individual AFSCME union endorsed Will Wetzel on their own.
We have not reached leadership of the four AFSCME unions represented by DTLA, so it is still possible one of the four AFSCMEs did their own endorsements.
May 9, 2023 Update
Amy Rueff emailed me on April 27th, stating "I reached out to representatives from the AFSCME locals affiliated with DTLA and they all referred to AFSCME Council 31." She added "Decatur Trades & Labor Assembly did endorse Will Wetzel and we represent AFSCME 674-,268, 612 and 632. So he did get endorsed through the CLC."
Stated Endorsements
Will Wetzel, candidate for 2023 Decatur School Board, listed endorsements from Decatur Trades & Labor Assembly, DEA (Decatur Education Association), DFTA (Decatur Federation of Teaching Assistants), DESPA (Decatur Educational Support Personnel Association), and AFSCME (American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees) in a March 6th facebook post.
Decatur Education Association shared a Facebook Post showing that DESPA, DEA, and SEIU 73 (Service Employees International Union Local 73) endorsed Will Wetzel and Bill Clevenger.
Macon County Democrats and Datrice Weathers both endorsed Will Wetzel. These two endorsements are clearly & publicly stated and are not under scrutiny.
About Decatur Unions
Decatur Trades & Labor Assembly AFL-CIO endorsements require a "2/3 majority vote from the delegates present at the endorsement meeting," according to Amy Rueff, Treasurer of Decatur Trades & Labor and Chair of Decatur Trades & Labor's Committee on Political Education. Rueff writes in an email that "The central labor council is made up of 31 local unions who represent 13,000 union members and retirees in the Macon County area" and that "Each union was given the opportunity to vote on the candidates."
The Decatur Trades & Labor Website lists 33 "affiliated" unions which include SEIU 73, four different AFSCME unions (268, 612, 632, and 674), and IFT DFTA 4324 (Illinois Federation of Teachers, Decatur Federation of Teaching Assistants).
There is another conglomeration of unions called DPACE, or Decatur Political Action Committee for Education, whose stated purpose is to "Support educational initiatives and local elections." Amy Rueff said DPACE is the political action committee for unions that work for the school district. Will Wetzel added that DPACE includes Decatur Education Association (DEA) and DESPA.
Then there is also AFSCME Council 31, which Amy Rueff describes as "kind of [AFSCME's] district council." Rueff says that when she ran for county clerk, and she interviewed with AFSCME for an endorsement, "I got called to a meeting in Springfield and it was AFSCME Council 31. Representatives from the Decatur area were there to like recognize me or to speak on my behalf."
I have sent several emails and left a few voicemails with various individuals looking for more information about the union structures and relationships, but have been unsuccessful. There are several additional efforts I could make to reach leadership of these various organizations and unions.
While further investigation is warranted to fully understand the relationship between these various bodies, and their endorsement processes, that work will be left for a later time due to my deadline on this story.
Conclusion: Did AFSCME endorse Will Wetzel?
I honestly don't know. I know that AFSCME Council 31 did not. I know that Decatur Trades & Labor Assembly did. Based on my conversation with Amy Rueff, I know the DTLA vote involved AFSCME delegates who supported the endorsement of Wetzel. I know DTLA includes four AFSCME unions: AFSCME 268 / AFSCME 612 / AFSCME 632 / AFSCME 674.
I have not reached leadership of those four AFSCME unions to confirm.
Will's March 6th Facebook Post says that he is "Labor Endorsed", then simply lists "Decatur Trades & Labor Assembly | DEA | DFTA | DESPA | AFSCME".
Regarding DFTA, a March 6th Facebook Post from Decatur Trades & Labor explicitly states "Decatur Federation of Teaching Assistants, Local 4324, have joined Decatur Trades & Labor Assembly in support of Will Wetzel."
There is no dispute that DTLA, DEA, DFTA, or DESPA endorsed Will Wetzel. It seems that Will's claim of being endorsed by AFSCME was based on the conglomeration endorsement from Decatur Trades & Labor, but I have not collected definitive proof that no AFSCME org individually endorsed Will. I also have made several requests for proof that at least one AFSCME union endorsed Will on their own, but have not received any proof of that.
In my opinion, based on my limited knowledge and investigations, I believe Will's claim that he was endorsed by AFSCME was misleading, but not unfounded. Read on for my investigation.
The investigation
On February 15th, I sent an email to labornewsdecatur@gmail.com about a Feb 10th Facebook Post listing Decatur Trades & Labor Assembly (DTLA) endorsements, inquiring about their process. On February 27th, Amy Rueff replied, explaining the 2/3rd majority vote process for candidate endorsements. On March 22nd, I published these findings & the list of candidates endorsed by DTLA, which included Will Wetzel.
Wetzel made a Facebook Post on March 6th, which said "Labor Endorsed" and listed "Decatur Trades & Labor | DEA | DFTA | DESPA | AFSCME".
On March 3rd, Decatur Education Association posted to Facebook that DEA, DESPA, and SEIU endorse both Will Wetzel and Bill Clevenger. As of today, April 14th, that post is no longer available, but a similar post was made on April 4th.
On March 28th, I emailed arojas@seiu73.org asking for confirmation of DEA's claim that SEIU endorsed Will Wetzel & Bill Clevenger, and inquiring about their endorsement process and relationship with DEA & DESPA. I never received a reply.
On March 28th, I contacted AFSCME through afscme.org, which provides a hub for finding state & local AFSCME unions. I believe I also contacted AFSCME Council 31 through afscme31.org, but I didn't take notes & don't recall.
Additionally, on March 28th, I contacted Wetzel on Facebook Messenger asking "On-Record. Hey. I'm just confirming your endorsements. I found public posts or reached out to all of them except for DESPA. Do you have a phone or email contact for DESPA? Or a website or Facebook that is active and might have contact info or list their endorsement of you?"
Will replied, explaining that DESPA and DEA organize with DPACE (Decatur PAC for Education) for their political action. He additionally said that AFSCME was part of DPACE, but corrected this in an April 11th email, saying that AFSCME was actually part of Decatur Trades & Labor. The Decatur Trades website confirms this.
I also asked him "Is DPACE part of Illinois Education Association & their IPACE?", but Wetzel never replied to that question. I contacted Illinois Education Association through ieanea.org on March 28th and only ever received an automated reply. I called their Decatur office at 217-875-9353 on April 12th, left a voicemail, and have not received a call back.
On April 5th, I received an email from Joanna Webb-Gauvin (JWebb-Gauvin@afscme31.org), Director of Political and Legislative Affairs for AFSCME Council 31, stating "In response to your recent inquiry, AFSCME Council 31 did not make any endorsements in the Decatur School Board races."
I replied to Joanna on April 6th, asking "Are you aware of other AFSCME entities that might have endorsed Decatur School Board candidates? I also contacted the entity at afscme.org, but they haven't replied." I only ever received an automated reply that she was out of office and "will respond promptly upon my return," leaving a contact for "Heather Morrell at hmorrell@afscme31.org".
On April 6th, I also forwarded Joanna's email to Will Wetzel, asking "Can you let me know which AFSCME entity endorsed you, and provide any proof of the endorsement?" He replied on April 8th saying "AFSCME 73 I do believe. It covers the Janitorial and Maintenance Staff for the district."
On April 8th, I also received Facebook Messages from Wetzel stating "I believe that it is AFSCME 73" and "Let me dig. I was handed a list by DPACE. That's where I got my information."
On April 11th, I published an article detailing some of these communications and the fact that AFSCME Council 31 did not endorse Decatur candidates for 2023. That evening, I received a call from Will Wetzel, which I told him upfront would be off the record.
I was not at my computer and did not have call recording enabled, so I could not reasonably have an on-the-record conversation. Additionally, off-the-record communications can be more candid, which is useful for further investigation.
I also have a conflict-of-interest with regard to Will. We have participated together in political action in the past, and have long had a good rapport and been friendly.
In an on-the-record email later that evening, Will wrote "Thanks for talking to me today", otherwise the call would not be mentioned. Despite this, I cannot ethically discuss the content of the phone call. Will is welcome to discuss the content of the call if he so chooses.
Will's April 11th email stated:
"AFSCME 31 is not a member of the DTLA, however, AFSCME locals 268, 612,632, and 674 all organize with DTLA. It would make sense that AFSCME 31, which does not organize with the DTLA or DPACE would not have any idea who I was or mention that they did not endorse any candidates in the School Board race."
On April 12th, I left Amy Rueff a voicemail and sent a followup email asking if any AFSCME unions endorsed Will, and if she had any contact information for AFSCME reps. We played phone tag and I spoke with her later that day, on the record.
I recorded the call with her consent for note-taking purposes, but told her I would later delete and not publish the recording. (This was my decision. She made no such request.)
Rueff said that usually, "AFSCME does do their own endorsements of local candidates". She adds that "The labor council is the kind of the collaboration of all the unions in Decatur and we do have delegates from AFSCME who sit on our council who voted to youknow, accept the endorsements."
She said "So, probably, technically, he didn't get the AFSCME endorsement, but he got the endorsement from all the unions in Decatur, which include AFSCME, if that makes sense."
Later in the call, she states "endorsements might be on AFSCME Council 31's website. That's kind of their district council." I explained that I reached out to AFSCME 31 and they did not endorse Decatur candidates this year. She responded by saying:
"Okay, so then he didn't get the actual local endorsement. Because Council 31 would be the person that would be the authority over local endorsements of AFSCME specifically. But again, the central labor council, Decatur Trades and Labor does include AFSCME and we sent, youknow, postcards and stuff to AFSCME members saying 'vote for Will Wetzel' because we endorsed him."
I asked "So rather than a direct endorsement from AFSCME, it's an endorsement from Decatur Labor which includes AFSCME and delegates from AFSCME who voted 'yes' for the endorsement?"
She said "Yes"
We also discussed DPACE and she said "I don't think there's any AFSCME in the school district". I asked if she could help connect me with DPACE leadership & AFSCME leadership. I sent her a follow up text reiterating the contacts I was looking for. She said she'd send a group email in the morning (of April 13th), connecting me, but I received no such email.
On April 13th, I emailed Will with my notes from the call, highlighting some of what I wrote above. I asked if he would like to comment. At this time, I have not received a reply from Wetzel.
On April 12th, I emailed Michelle Vanderberg, allegedly a representative for DPACE, at mvanderberg@dps61.org, after receiving her information in off-the-record communications from a source I will not name. I was inquiring with Vanderberg about her role in DPACE, Wetzel endorsements, and affiliations with AFSCME, DEA, and DESPA. She has not replied.
Additionally, I emailed deapresident61@gmail.com on April 12th asking what the relationship is between DPACE, DEA, and DESPA. I also asked if any AFSCME unions were associated with these groups. I have not received a reply.
On April 13th, I emailed Joanna Webb-Gauvin and Heather Morrell of AFSCME Council 31 stating "Decatur Trades & Labor Assembly DID endorse Will Wetzel & DTLA has 4 AFSCME affiliates, including AFSCME delegates who sit on the DTLA council & voted in favor of endorsing Will Wetzel." I then asked about the relationship between AFSCME Council 31 and the four AFSCMEs associated with DTLA.
I also asked if any of those AFSCMEs endorsed Will Wetzel, and if they could forward my email to leadership of the four AFSCME Unions (AFSCME 268 / AFSCME 612 / AFSCME 632 / AFSCME 674). I got another automatic-reply from Webb-Gauvin, and Morrell has not replied at this time.
This concludes my investigations. I may follow up at a later time if more information is uncovered.
Note: There are additional sources linked throughout this document that are not listed below.