One Tinley Park's Campaign Cash Gives CCTP Run For Its Money

TINLEY PARK, IL —When it comes to campaign cash, the new One Tinley Park party is giving its opponents a run for their money. So to speak.

OTP, as the party is called, had raised $44,700 as of March 25 — or $8,879 less than Concerned Citizens for Tinley Park, the party in power, had on hand.

That’s no small feat for a party founded by incumbents that is running a slate of candidates who never have been elected to office before. A look into contributors could indicate just how much clout OTP has.

The majority of that money — nearly 88 percent — comes from an old campaign account created for Michael Glotz, a current trustee and one of OTP’s founders. The rest largely comes from candidates William Brennan and Michael Mueller.

But look a little deeper and the numbers show that roughly 43 percent of Glotz's donations came from unions. Glotz is a union steward with International Union of Operating Engineers Local 150. None of the unions that donated responded to comment for the story. Nationwide, unions are powerful donors with influence that extends to local levels.

“I think this says that they respect and trust him,” Mueller, one of the candidates on OTP’s slate, said.

Campaign contributions also sometimes give the voting public an idea about what a candidate’s support base may look like, political experts say. Significant out-of-state funding, for example, could indicate a lack of local support that may affect vote tallies. Illinois Governor JB Pritzker broke self-funding records with the $161 million he gave his campaign, which helped propel him to his win. That is not to say he had no support — he won — but the money helped.

In OTP’s case, Glotz said, the numbers do not tell everything — at least not yet. He transferred money from his campaign coffers to OTP because he was sure his supporters would endorse the candidates he backed, he said. When all the numbers are in, he added, the records will show a true grassroots campaign with a significant amount of Tinley residents donating in small amounts.

“These are everyday people,” he said. “They don’t have deep pockets and they’re not interest groups or people from the outside.”

“We have good support,” he said.

Patch reviewed the money that OTP and Concerned Citizens for Tinley Park, or CCTP, collected for the April 2 election. Eight candidates are running for three seats — three from OTP, three from CCTP and two independents. For OTP, Patch reviewed donations collected from the 2018 reporting season through March 25. That’s a longer time period than the CCTP review because no other money for that party had yet been reported. That’s not unusual: Reports for the beginning of 2019 are not due until March 31, two days before the April 2 election. However, OTP had additional donations, so Patch included them. Independent candidates Brian Godlewski and Jeff Mech said they are self-financing their campaigns and don't expect to meet the threshold the state requires for filing.

Patch found a stark difference in the donors of the two parties. CCTP’s contributors primarily were made up of organizations and individuals that do business with the village. However, in OTP’s case, most of the money so far has been transferred from the account Glotz used when he ran in 2017. Glotz said it is an inactive account and that he will close it after the election. All remaining money will be transferred to OTP’s account.

Among his top 10 contributors were unions, and the three candidates running for office on his slate next week: Diane Galante, Brennan and Mueller.

“I worked with Mike quite a bit during the Brookside Glen Apartments in my backyard last year and the year before that,” Mueller said in an email about his support of Glotz’s run. “During that time I found Mike to be different than the other trustees. Honest, hardworking, willing to talk, and he never gave in. When I saw that, firsthand, I knew I had to support Mike Glotz.”

For his part, Mueller so far has given $2,500 to his campaign, with at least another $1,500 that will be reported by the filing deadline, Glotz said.

That’s not to say no village contractors supported Glotz. Patch’s analysis showed that Joe Rizza Ford, Sosin Arnold, & Schoenbeck, Homewood Disposal, Lenny's Gas N Wash and South Street Development have donated to both Glotz and CCTP. Many of the village’s contracts or projects have been in place for years.

“We support the democratic process and we've donated to 'both sides' of campaigns throughout the years," said Rizza’s Chief Financial Officer Dan McMillan.

To be sure, such contributions are common and not illegal. They are often used as a way to access to government officials.

"Campaign contributions can make you familiar — they can get phone calls returned and meetings set up, so groups are interested in being on a candidate's radar screen," said Kent Redfield, an emeritus professor of political science at the University of Illinois at Springfield.

Glotz said he is careful not to accept money from potential contractors to make sure there is no perception of pay-to-play. For example, he said, he tries to ensure that there are no donations made when the village puts out requests for proposals for open projects. Contributors do not dictate how he votes, he said.

Mueller agreed: “Contributions need to be put aside when evaluating a vendor, contractor, or partner for the village,” he said. “The residents and long term goals of the village are the only things to be considered.”

Coming up:

• How CCTP spent its money in 2018
• How One Tinley Park spent its campaign cash

Don’t miss:

• A review of One Tinley Park's campaign finances