Former DuPage County Board Chairman Gayle Franzen has closed out his once flush political fund, according to a campaign-finance report filed last week.
The bulk of the money left over in the fund–nearly $252,000 — was transferred to the National Heritage Foundation in Wheaton.
Lawyer Linda Davenport, treasurer for Citizens for Franzen, called the foundation an “educational trust fund.”
“He’s been giving scholarships to kids for a long time,” Davenport said.
Attempts to reach Franzen were unsuccessful.
Franzen resigned as County Board chairman effective April 1 to become president and chief executive officer of Harry Kuhn Inc., a road construction firm based in unincorporated West Chicago.
He had announced last Oct. 15 that he would seek the Republican nomination for Illinois secretary of state in the March primary. But he abandoned his campaign a week later.
Franzen had roughly $310,000 left in his campaign fund at the start of the year. In addition to the money he transferred to the National Heritage Foundation, Franzen made a variety of political contributions during the first six months of 1998.
The chief beneficiary of Franzen’s generosity was DuPage County Board member Michael Formento (R-Glen Ellyn), an unsuccessful candidate for board chairman in the GOP primary in March. Records show that Franzen paid for $23,000 in telemarketing services on Formento’s behalf.
Other contributions went to Illinois Secretary of State George Ryan, the GOP candidate for governor in November, $2,000; state Sen. Chris Lauzen (R-Aurora), who won the Republican nomination for comptroller, $1,000; and Cook County Circuit Court Clerk Aurelia Pucinski, who is running for Cook County Board president as a Republican, $1,500.