South and southwest suburban politicians had a busy quarter raising and spending cash leading up to the April 4 consolidated election.
Calumet City Mayor and state Rep. Thaddeus Jones collected more than $161,000 worth of contributions during the three months ending March 31. Jones, a Democrat, also appointed Republican Steve Weber as treasurer of his three campaign funds. Weber is a former Will County treasurer and is treasurer of the Will County Republican Central Committee.
Politically influential attorneys who work for the city were among the largest contributors to Jones for State Representative, one of the three funds. Michael Kasper, who previously was counsel for former House Speaker Michael Madigan and the Democratic Party of Illinois, donated $5,000 to the fund March 31, according to paperwork filed with the Illinois State Board of Elections.
Calumet City’s website lists Kasper as city attorney. Hinsdale attorney Patrick Walsh, special counsel for Calumet City’s office of the city prosecutor, made an in-kind donation of $2,250 to Jones for printing costs on March 30.
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The website still lists ShawnTe Raines of Chicago-based firm Ancel Glink as Calumet City’s corporate counsel for the office of the city council. Voters in 2022 elected Raines to be a Cook County Circuit Court judge. She is married to Illinois House Speaker Emanuel “Chris” Welch. The Cook County courts website lists her as ShawnTe Raines-Welch.
Ancel Glink donated $5,000 to Jones for State Representative March 31, records showed. Ancel Glink’s website no longer lists Raines-Welch as an attorney but it does list Welch, her husband, as “of counsel.” The term is used in the legal profession to describe a “close, ongoing and personal” relationship when an attorney is not a “partner, associate or outside counsel,” according to the American Bar Association.
Welch’s campaign fund donated $57,600 worth of in-kind contributions to Jones for State Representative for mailing and digital programming.
Unofficial results show Calumet City voters on April 4 rejected a mayoral term-limits referendum that, if approved, would have allowed Jones to be mayor until 2037 if he won three more elections. As it stands, he is eligible to be mayor until 2033.
Calumet City residents last week publicly begged Jones and other politicians to be nicer to each other after voters said they were bombarded with crude robocalls and other forms of digital programming during the recent election.
Ancel Glink and Kasper each donated $5,000 and Walsh donated $5,300 during the quarter to Citizens for Jones, another fund the mayor and state representative uses to raise and spend money. Citizens for Jones raised $25,000, spent $12,594 and reported a balance of $12,950 on March 31.
Jones for State Representative raised $70,770, reported another $66,763 worth of in-kind contributions, spent $63,732 and finished the quarter with $45,773 in the bank, records showed. Notable expenditures included $10,584 on meals and food at Chicago Cut Steakhouse. The fund paid $10,000 to Chicago-based Riley Safer Holmes & Cancila for legal fees.
Construction company magnate and state Rep. Tim Ozinga, whose has raised up to $1 million from family members and company affiliates during a previous quarter, had a remarkably quiet three months on the fundraising side of the ledger. Ozinga reported just $882 in new donations but spent $241,460 to finish with a balance of $602,534 on March 31.
Ozinga spread his wealth around by giving $25,000 to the Big Tent Coalition PAC that he chairs, $50,000 to the House Republican Organization, $25,000 to the Illinois Republican Party, $25,000 to the Senate Republican Victory Fund and $100,000 to the Will County Republican Central Committee that he chairs. Ozinga gave $2,500 to Frankfort village trustee Jessica Petrow.
Country Club Hills Mayor James Ford appeared to handily defeat three mayoral challengers during the April 4 election, unofficial results showed. He flexed his fundraising muscle during the quarter by bringing in $24,837 and spending $19,676 to finish the period with $56,393 in the bank.
State Rep. Bob Rita, D-Blue Island, recently testified in the “ComEd Four” bribery trial that Madigan used “fear and intimidation” to rule the Illinois General Assembly for years.
Rita is typically a prolific fundraiser but reported zero new revenues for the period ending March 31. His campaign spent $52,016 to finish with a balance of $291,042. Rita gave $5,000 to Chicago 9th Ward Ald. Anthony Beale and paid $12,188 in legal fees to Chicago-based Saul, Ewing, Arnstein & Lehr.
Rita chairs the Calumet Township Regular Democratic Organization, which reported revenues of $100,016 and a fund balance of $685,542, a staggering amount for a township political organization. Rita is Calumet Township supervisor and Calumet Township committeeperson for the Cook County Democratic Party.
No quarterly report was published online Tuesday afternoon for Dolton Mayor and Thornton Township Supervisor Tiffany Henyard. Elected officials and candidates who raised or spent $5,000 or more were required to submit reports by 5 p.m. Monday.
Harvey Mayor Christopher Clark had a successful quarter. He appeared to defeat two mayoral opponents April 4, unofficial results showed. His campaign hauled in $100,896 plus $24,103 worth of in-kind contributions and spent a whopping $171,125 to finish the quarter with $35,948.
Welch, the House speaker, gave Clark $25,000 cash, $16,000 worth of in-kind contributions for polling and another $8,102 worth of in-kind donations for campaign staff.
Ancel Glink gave Clark $5,000, and numerous Harvey businesses donated money. Alex’s Butcher Shop gave $3,000 and Lotsa Liquors kicked in $5,000. Keri Lyn Krafthefer of Oswego, an equity partner at Ancel Glink, gave Clark $2,500.
In University Park, Mayor Joseph Roudez III is in a close race to keep his job. Unofficial results showed him leading by a slim margin after polls closed April 4. County clerks have until April 25 to finish counting mail ballots and canvass the vote.
Roudez’s campaign filed a report at 5:36 p.m. Monday that reported no revenues and no expenditures for the first quarter of 2023. Then, at 10:06 p.m. Monday, the campaign filed a report that campaigns are required to when listing donations of $1,000 or more. The report listed $20,500 in contributions since April 1.
Roudez received $2,500 from Antero Group, an urban planning firm the village engaged in 2019 to develop a comprehensive plan. Eric Neagu heads the firm. Home décor media coverage showed a Chicago apartment Neagu shared with Rebecca Crall, who donated $6,000 to Roudez. Naperville law firm Ottosen DiNolfo Hasenbalg & Castaldo gave Roudez $7,000.
State Sen. Michael Hastings, D-Frankfort, barely survived reelection in November. His campaign on Monday reported $5,305 in receipts and $54,148 in expenses to finish the quarter with a balance of $50,644. He paid $36,412 in legal fees to Joliet-based Jaquays & Ellis.
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State Rep. Anthony DeLuca, D-Chicago Heights, reported $1,795 in receipts and $15,807 in expenses to finish the quarter with $840,469 in the bank.
State Sen. Napoleon Harris, D-Harvey, raised $49,820 and spent $98,813 to finish with a balance of $128,521. Citizens for Better Education, based in Dyer, Indiana, gave Harris $25,170. He paid more than $33,500 to Carol Stream-based Big Tuna Marketing for mailing and printing. He paid $9,500 to the United Center to rent a hall for a fundraiser.
Ted Slowik is a columnist for the Daily Southtown.