It's Ozinga in the 11th

We're hearing the county chairmen have decided that ready-mix concrete heavyweight Martin Ozinga III will be the GOP candidate opposing State Senator Debbie Halvorson to fill retiring Cong. Jerry Weller's 11th CD seat.

Ozinga is highly respected in the area, part owner in the family business -- one of the ten largest ready mix concrete providers in the nation, making him a self-funder.  Ozinga is 58, married with adult children and an active leader in his home church of Eagle Rock Community Church, making us think he's likely to be a social conservative.

But Ozinga will need to explain the Tribune's accusations of Ozinga Brothers manipulating company holdings to pull in business set aside for minority-owned companies (here). And he'll need to tell his Republican-leaning district why the only federal campaign contribution he made in 2001 was $1000 to Dick Durbin (here) and  why a "Martin Ozinga Jr" from Evergreen Park (born 1921) wrote a $1000 check to Democratic U.S. Senate candidate Gery Chico in 2004.  Other than that, most federal contributions of Martin Ozinga III have gone to his own Congressman Jerry Weller and last election to 6th CD's Peter Roskam (here).

Once those political wrinkles are ironed out, it will be interesting to hear why Ozinga was the pick and how he plans to beat Debbie Halvorson in 2008.

UPDATE 1x:  We'll have to wait for the explanation of how the family tree is rooted here, because we also see on the IL State Board of Election's website that Martin Ozinga of Evergreen Park (looks like that's Jr, born 1921) gave $10k to Rod Blagojevich in 2005 and another $10k from a Chicago address in 2003, along with other numerous contributions to Democratic aldermen over the years.  A huge $25k check was written to the questionably-reputed Hispanic Democratic Organization in August 2003.

This leads us to believe we'll hear from 58 year old candidate Ozinga that he doesn't tell his dad to whom he should contribute, just as the IL GOP Chairman Andy McKenna Jr explained about his dad's generosity to Democrats Daley, Durbin, Madigan and others.

UPDATE 2x:  Another interesting note: the candidate Martin Ozinga gave $7000 to Democratic gubernatorial candidate Paul Vallas in 2005/6 and $2000 to Democratic State Rep. Paul Froehlich while Froehlich was still a Republican.  He's been a big backer of his state rep Renee Kosel and the Will County GOP.

Comments

[spintreebob]

In the ready-mix business, the big question is: Does it pay to play? If it got this big without pay to play then it is a true testament to capitalist ingenuity.

I'll prefer to believe there was no pay to play here until there is proof otherwise.

How about the fact that he lives outside the 11th Congressional District?

How can you appoint a nominee with a paper trail of contributions to Democrats, manipulation of corporate documents to appear as a minority-owned company to get contracts, and he doesn't even live in the district which he wants to represent?

Were the county chairmen drinking peyote when they came to this decision?

Hope he has a lot of money, it will take millions to fool the people into believing he is a Republican.

[Scott Mesick]

Strictly looking for self-funders is ridiculous and part of the problem with the IL GOP. It restricts the field of good candidates considerably. How about being a party organization and actually helping the candidates?

I can't speak for the rest as I don't know Ozinga.

[PhilCollins]

I agree that being a self-funder probably won't help. Jim Oberweis is a millionaire who spent a lot of his money on four campaigns, and he hasn't won an office yet. In 2006, David McSweeney was a self-funder, and he lost.

The biggest problem with self-funders is they aren't likable (i.e., Oberweis, McSweeney, P. O'Malley).

I hear that John Parrott was the driving force behind this. Thanks, John. Now we can lose the seat.

[Paul Ruff]

I spoke at last months Frankfort Township Republican meeting on the type of person that M.O.and others represent, such as supporting our opponents and they never do anything to help local candidates or in M.O. case a one time buy-in! What did he need from Weller??

I say No! Hell No! And never!!

[John Powers]

Can't stand posts like this, but come on..Dave McSweeney is one of the finest gentlemen I have ever met. He is polite and thoughtful, and a good candidate. I do not agree with him 100%, nor do I agree with anyone else 100%..there is no future in looking for 100% agreement.

The vile nature of the Republicans in Illinois has surely driven completely reasonable electable conservatives out of the race.

JBP

[Michelle]

Mr. Powers,
I agree wholeheartedly with you. Posts like this are frustrating to read, but they reveal symptoms that the Republican regulars don't want to admit.
David ran a great campaign and is professional. He would have made a tremendous Congressman had he won.
More and more we're seeing that party primaries can be devastating -- not only during the primary, but for years later in the aftermath.
There's something we should be learning, but we're missing.
There's hope for change. Just ask Barack.

[Mark Johnson]

Looking for self-funders is not an IL GOP hang up. It's a national party requisite to be taken seriously. If you can;t raise it you have to be able to write a big check to fill the coffers.

[From The Right Field]

IR Editor,

Where did you this information?? As far as I know the Chairman have not been talking to anyone. Is this rumor or is there a honest source?? or is this a float to test out his name?

Just the facts just the facts.

[oaktree]

Let me try to step in on something. I may get critized for this, but what the heck.

First off, I know nothing about Marty Ozinga. Never met him. Not in his district.

I want to mention the situation about giving some campaign contributions to Democrats. Please consider the whole thing, before responding. I'm going to speak a little in generalities here to protect some of the particulars. However, everything I will say is true and not exagerated.

There are many firms that are involved in state contracting that face difficult choices with campaign contributions. For instance, let's consider Mr. Blago. When Ryan was in office, there were consultants that got contracts with the State that never gave a dime to Ryan. When Blago came into office, some of those same firms did not give a dime to Blago and now did not get a single contract for work. Blago makes Ryan look like a saint.

So, let's say you are a consulting firm that counts on state contracts for half of your business. What do you do? You go a couple years after Blago comes into office and get nothing. It's not as easy as saying, we'll get work someplace else, because for certain types of work, State contracts are your only shot. You could try to get work from a different state, but typically, you have to try for several years before you get noticed and you can get work someplace else. It is a difficult choice.

I know firms that are managed by very fine Republicans, that when faced with this dilema: do I give something to Blago or do I let my firm go bankrupt? These are very real questions that have been posed by very real companies.

So, the next time a businessman is considered for public office and someone says "they gave to a Democrat", please keep this in mind. It might not be as simple as you think.

Until such point in time that politics are cleaned up enough that these kind of dilemas are not possible, businessmen are going to face these situations.

Before you respond back and say "well, Republicans should have principles and not do those kind of things", just think for a moment and truthful answer this question about yourself: "Would I allow my business to go bankrupt because I can't get work, and possibly lose my house, or would I give a campaign contribtuion to a Dem". In some cases, yes, it is about greed in getting more work. In other cases, it is simply about survival.

The old Indian proverb: "You have to walk a mile in a man's mocossin before you can judge him".

[Chris McNeil]

Oaktree,
No one is judging Marty Ozinga for donating to Democrats, some like me are simply saying that it is hard to go to the precinct committeemen and ask for their "urgent" help to win an election against a democrat when not so long ago, these people gave money to the democrats they now seek to defeat.

It is frustrating to see a republican donate to a democrat and then re-shape his image as a staunch republican when the time suits him.

Committeemen donate their time in helping republicans get elected. They leave their families for a weekend or two(minimum), knocking on doors to help republicans beat Rod Blagojevich, Dick Durbin, and others. Some of this work we do gets NULLIFIED when guys like Ozinga donate money to these same Democrats who then send mail to the homes we've just visited.

How can you not see the problem?

Who a business man donates to is none of my business, until they seek to be my elected representative; then it is my business.

[Someone in the know]

Yes, they have interviewed four candidates. Ozinga, Bond, Kinzinger, and Cunningham.

[From The Right Field]

I know they have interview several other candidates, including Chris McNeil.

[oaktree]

Chris,

All good points. Can't argue the feelings.

What I will submit to you is that by the stance that you are taking, it pretty much completely takes out a large slice of businessmen that do any kind of work with the State.

Last week, I gave a check to a Democratic Mayor in another state. Not a large amount. Certainly smaller than what was listed above. I think this is the only time I have ever done so. Companies that I have worked for have given some money to Democrats.

Does this mean that I am now completely unqualified for running for a political office?

Many times, this has nothing to do with "buying" a contract. It has everything to do with "leveling the playing field". If I have 9 competitors for a project, and say five of them have given money to the politician that is in charge of the selection, and I have not, do I stand a chance of getting the project? As unpalatable as it may be, no, I probably don't. So, do I give a check or not?

[Chris McNeil]

Oaktree,
Let me first be clear that I do not know who the candidate will be (as far as I know, no announcement has been made). If it is Mr. Ozinga, I will certainly need to hear him out and get a detailed list of all donations he has made to Democrats over the years, and make an effort to try to understand them.

From what I have seen above from the IR Editor's initial research into his history, I would make the following points:

1)Paul Vallas was not in a position of power as it related to the concrete business. Why donate $7,000 to a man running against the man who WAS IN a position of power for state contracts, Rod Blagojevich. Using your line of argument, you would think Ozinga would have given money to Rod, not Paul Vallas. How do we explain giving a large sum of money to someone NOT in a position of power who is also a Democrat?
2) I am not sure the donation to Dick Durbin can be linked to this issue of state business, though I could be wrong, and Dick Durbin may have a hand in "guiding" the process. In either case, a donation to Dick Durbin is a non-starter. This man is a polar opposite of the issues I stand for, and his attempt to characterize our troops in Cuba as being as brutal as Nazis and followers of Pol Pot ends the conversation. For me this donation is very troubling.
3) Your donation to someone in another state does IN NO WAY NEGATE WORK a precinct committeemen may one day do for you (if you ran for office). I doubt anyone would hold that against you, unless of course your donation went to a Presidential candidate. This issue of candidates donating to Democrats and thereby negating work we do in the field is the sore spot for me.

[oaktree]

Chris,

I don't want to debate this endlessly. I would completely agree with you point about presidential candidates and candidates that have no impact on local contracts.

I can tell you that as someone who was formerly in the consulting world that did a lot of work with the State, the Counties and Cities, we got "requests" on a weekly basis from local politicians that were in government organizations we did work with. It is sometimes an unpalatable situation. Both Republican and Democrats.

There were several times when we would get letters that said things like "as someone who does work with City ______, I know you will want to support our cause". Kind of more than a subtle hint. That one was from a Republican.

[Pete Speer]

Let me be clear about this. Dave McSweeney is a good man. At the beginning he ran a good local campaign. Towards the second half, the national Campaign Committee came in and took over his campaign with the issues Washington people thought matterd most. I understand that they had two bumblers posted to his offices.

Dave became a two dimentional face as the Bean bashing began and the polls showed a drop in pro-McSweeney sentiment. The mopes from DC did not know how to handle local matters and pushed the anti-Bean adds instead of better defining Dave.

Please, somebody, dispute this isf you can, but Dave lost control to thr ptos from DC and never got it back.

In retrospect it looks like the same thing happened in 14th.

[spintreebob]

A person can give to the other party to "pay to play"
. . . . or
A person can give to the other party out of sincerity and no hint of corruption.

Pro-lifers give to pro-life Democrats.
Anti-combine people gave to Proshard.
Emily's List gives to RINOs.
Reagan Democrats gave to Reagan.

Is Oaktree now saying that "pay to play" is somehow mure justifiable than giving from the heart?

[The 11th Celt]

A mangled web we weave when we make plans to deceive.

[Not meeting again until Monday]

Not going to be Ozinga.

Probably Bond. Maybe Cunningham.

[Jerry]

Open the flap to the tent, kids. It's a big tent, let's let those people standing outside hear the speakers.

I know only two things about Ozinga: he runs a large, very successful business, and he just donated a huge piece of property in Mokena to a conservative, pro-life church called Calvary with a wonderful, growing, conservative congregation to build a new worship home.

You folks want to exclude anyone who might have donated money to a Democrat in Illinois, then you will need to exclude anyone who runs a business here. Grow up.

[FEC Violator?]

Ozinga has been running an ad on WLS radio promoting his concrete business that repeats, even spells, his name about 11 times. Never heard of him or his company before this. Is he using company money to pay for political name recognition in a Federal campaign? Obie got pinched for this.

[Jerry]

"Never heard of him or his company before this."

What state are you from?