Tomorrow, Democrat candidate for Congress Debbie Halvorson will officially have an opponent for Jerry Weller's 11th CD open seat. Successful cement magnate Marty Ozinga will announce at 11:00 am at Mokena's Angelino's that the 11th CD's five GOP county chairmen have chosen him to fill the GOP vacancy left by New Lenox Mayor Tim Baldermann, who decided not to run in the Fall election.
Ozinga is 59 years old, married, has an exemplary family of which four of the six adult sons are now running the Ozinga family business. Ozinga is a charitable, generous man. His views on public policy stem from his strong Christian values. He's started schools, Romanian orphanages and medical clinics, personally assisted refugees in Uganda, donated generously to pregnancy crisis centers, helped to start new churches, among numerous other community projects.
At the same time, he's built a business bringing 1500 good paying jobs to Will County. He understands meeting payrolls, business regulations, political obstacles and competition.
If elected, he would reflect the wholesome, hardworking people of his district with dignity and pride. He is not a politician -- something that should be very appealing this election cycle.
But in order to serve the 11th CD, Marty Ozinga has to get elected. That will take a serious, knowledgeable and experienced campaign staff. The 11th CD is a massive district that extends from Joliet west to LaSalle/Peru and south to Bloomington. It entails five burgeoning Illinois counties. It's a prize the Democrats want to own.
Democratic Congressional Committee Chairman Rahm Emanuel has already picked up Denny Hastert's Republican seat just north in the 14th. He smells blood in the 11th CD. State Senator Debbie Halvorson, Emil Jones' right hand in the Illinois Senate, has already raised over $600k in her bid to turn that historically Republican seat into a blue one. There's no question Emanuel and Halvorson will scrap hard to pick up that seat. Ozinga should go into this battle with a hardened and experienced scrapper managing a tough, experienced campaign staff. Anything less, and the campaign will fail. Democratic congressional sharks will show no mercy.
We congratulate Marty Ozinga for his willingness to serve his beloved country and state by running for office. It's people like him we need to change the polluted DC environment. We thank him for contributing the fruits of his years of hard work to helping this important Heartland district. The people of the 11th CD are indebted.
As Republicans, though, we watch all this, and hold our breaths. Politics is a blood sport in Illinois, and good people like Jack Ryan and Pat O'Malley fought a good fight, but returned to making their millions and are now serving their communities in non-political ways, casualties of some of our state's bloodiest battles.
Let's hope the battle energizes Marty Ozinga. Let's push for a tough staff to stand alongside him. Illinois Republicans simply can't afford to lose another good man.
