By Illinois Review
Following Illinois Review’s May 19, 2023 article regarding mailers sent out in Will County this past election cycle, in which Illinois Review revealed that IL GOP State Central Committeeman Tim Ozinga and IL GOP General Counsel John Fogarty may have played a role in opposing a slate of conservative Republican candidates during the April election – a source close to former IL House Minority Leader Jim Durkin has confirmed that Ozinga played a pivotal role in deciding which candidates received the benefit of the IL GOP’s discounted postage rate during the 2022 primary and general election.
In January, Illinois Review reported that IL GOP leadership was blaming Durkin for directing use of the IL GOP’s postage discount, which according to the source, Durkin adamantly denies. Instead, the source states that Durkin reportedly has indicated that Ozinga directs which candidate gets to use the IL GOP postage discount.
Recently, at a June Will County Central Committee meeting, Chair Tim Ozinga, who also runs social media for his family’s eponymously named concrete business, stated that Illinois Review’s May 19, 2023 story was completely false and that New Lenox Permit 64 was owned by a mail house that the IL GOP regularly does business with.
Ozinga provided no explanation at the meeting why he wired at least $25,000 to the IL GOP and $125,000 to the Will County Central Committee in late March, at the time when some 14 mailers went out on behalf of John Fogarty’s client, the Homer Integrity Party, against the conservative Republican slate for Homer Glen village board.
A source close to the Will County Central Committee has confirmed to Illinois Review that no explanation has been provided for the $150,000 of late-March money wires, and as Ozinga reaffirmed at the June meeting, the Will County Central Committee made no official endorsements in the April election.
Illinois Review recently came into possession of a United States Postal Service document that shows that the owner of New Lenox Permit 64 is Ace Endeavors LLC, which does not appear to be a mail house, but rather is a single-member limited liability company owned by Jeff Bergman.
According to the Illinois Secretary of State, Bergman owns Ace Endeavors as well as his primary business, CS Renovations LLC doing business as Frankfort Home Remodeling.
This development raises more questions than it answers. Why is the IL GOP using a private permit number for its mailers and those of other IL GOP preferred candidates, when the IL GOP has its own mail indicia?
Illinois Review is in possession of mailers sent out by Cook County Commissioner Sean Morrison, Orland Township committeeman Cindy Katsenes, former congressional candidate Jim Oberweis, and IL-14 congressional candidate Scott Gryder – all bearing the New Lenox Permit 64.
Illinois Review also is in possession of mailers sent out under that postal permit number stating that the mailers are “Paid for by the Illinois Republican Party.”
And it cannot be overlooked that in this same Will County race, at a time when the Fogarty-backed slate was sending out numerous mailers under the New Lenox Permit 64, a fake political action committee called “Committee for Leadership & Fiscal Responsibility” also was sending out mailers under this same permit number.
The address on the mailer? An empty lot next to Club 390 – a full nudity and liquor bar in Chicago Heights, Illinois.
Illinois Review is continuing to investigate this situation.
