Was there a conflict of interest involving suburban school employees and a trip to a Kentucky distillery and AC factory?
CHICAGO (CBS) -- An all-expenses-paid trip, taken by suburban public school employees, on the dime of a manufacturer.
Now an investigation is underway to see if all their fun, food, and booze crossed a line.
CBS 2's Lauren Victory is always investigating and looks into the unusual way this came to light.
Two public school employees from the Wheeling/Arlington Heights area went on this trip.
It involved air conditioners and included a tour of the Kentucky facility where the units are manufactured.
A curious parent also discovered some extracurricular activities on the itinerary.
Amy Osterman couldn't believe what she found. Inside nearly 3,700 pages of emails. They're messages to and from Jerry Cook.
He's the now-former director of operations at School District 214 which includes John Hersey High School in Arlington Heights.
"It made me nauseous," Osterman said. "Like, it was like, really?"
The Wheeling mom was curious about the calendar kept by Cook, so she put in a public records request for it.
She never expected to uncover bourbon and horse racing part of a trip to Kentucky on the administrator's schedule.
The email said: "11:00 is going to be a charter for the opening of the race track. "No cost to come." "Guaranteed to have a good time!" reads an email from the person who invited Cook and a school maintenance employee named Linas Paul.
"There is no cost for anyone to come on this trip," they were told.
"It's completely inappropriate, it's a conflict of interest," Osterman said.
A conflict of interest because the trip coordinator is a salesperson for the air conditioning manufacturer Trane.
About a month after that Kentucky invite, Trane sealed a nearly $3 million deal with the district related to the air conditioning units on the roof of Hersey High School.
Pictures of Bulleit bourbon popped up on what appears to be Paul's Facebook page on April 6, the same date on the "Kentucky agenda."
"One of the odd things is that the trip occurred after the contract had been issued," said corruption expert and political science professor Dick Simpson.
CBS 2 asked Simpson, also a former Chicago alderman, to analyze the trip itinerary. To be clear: the agenda did include a tour of a Trane air conditioning plant.
"It wasn't just a simple trip down to the factory to look at things or to get special instruction on how to maintain the air conditioning," Simpson said.
A visit to a distillery and racetrack aren't educational activities, Simpson said.
Then there's the issue that everything, flight, hotel, and more, for these public school employees, appears to be covered by the vendor.
"It's normally the government's job to pay for those trips to make sure that they aren't influenced improperly," Simpson said.
Osterman reported her findings to the school board in person just last week.
"We want to make sure that our tax dollars are used well," she said. "And if you have a company that's willing to wine and dine you, there's another company that might actually be cost-effective."
A district spokesperson said the purpose of the trip was to view the factory and see the equipment in person.
She said the two employees involved did not have a say in the selection of the vendor, though CBS 2 noticed the nearly $3 million contract was signed by one of them.
Linas Paul told CBS 2 no comment. Jerry Cook didn't return calls or emails from CBS 2. Neither did Trane.
