McHenry Times

State Rep. Allen Skillicorn told the McHenry Times he has no objections to the construction of the Obama Center at the cost of $224 million planned for Chicago’s Southside, but the Republican from Crystal Lake doesn’t think taxpayers should have to foot the bill for what some have derisively referred to as Obamaland. 

“I have no problem with an Obama Center,” Skillicorn said. “But I do have a problem with taxpayers supporting it. The people of Illinois are broke and need a break. The political elites just don’t get the struggles of the average family.”

Skillicorn indicated private donations should fund the project out of fairness. 

Illinois state Rep. Allen Skillicorn.

“Think of it this way, a new neighbor wants to build a home but expects his neighbors to pay for the foundation and driveway," he said. "We wouldn’t stand for that, but that’s exactly what the political elites did to us.”

Skillicorn is far from the project’s only critic. 

The group Protect Our Parks Inc. and principals Charlotte Adelman, Maria Valencia and Jeremiah Jurevis have filed a lawsuit against the Chicago Park District and the City of Chicago in U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois Eastern Division.

The group laments the fact the Obama Center’s proposed location is a chunk of historic Jackson Park. The complaint alleges the park district has agreed to proffer the land to the city for the token sum of $1 a year and a 99-year lease with automatic renewals. The city, in turn, would convey the property to the Obama Foundation.

“The attempted ‘sale’ of this much used, enjoyed, and locally needed open, clear and free recreational public park land is in violation of the relevant controlling statutes; and upon objective examination is openly exposed to be, by design, a conscious scheme to negate these existing protective laws,” read court papers.

Court documents also allege a “bait and switch” was perpetrated on taxpayers. When the deal was announced, according to the complaint, it was for the construction of a presidential library that would be available for public viewing and scholarly research. 

Former President Barack Obama and wife Michelle then announced an entirely different use for the facility, and said that Obama’s letters and other footnotes of his presidency would not even be stored at the Jackson Park site.

“Among the critical reactions to this institutional bait and switch is an article that appeared in American Thinker, which put it succinctly as: “The so-called ‘Obama Presidential Center’ in Chicago is not a presidential library, and it is not part of the National Archives.  It will contain no collections of presidential papers and therefore will have little if any value to historians and scholars of his presidency.  It is a private building, financed by private donations. Its function appears to be serving as a monument to the man himself [to replace] a treasured legacy of the Chicago World's Fair that defines the surrounding neighborhoods,” according to court documents.

Attorney Mark Roth of Roth Fioretti LLC in Chicago listed several causes of action against the city and its park district, including violation of due process, breach of the public trust and ultra vires action (alleging the parks district never had the authority to sell part of Jackson Park).

The lawsuit also claims a First Amendment violation.