Lyons Mayor Chris Getty, who is running as an independent in the 4th Congressional District, has raised enough money to mount a professional and strong campaign for Congress.
According to federal reports as of Sept. 30, the Chris Getty for Congress Committee has raised $412,837 while the campaign committee of Democratic candidate Patty Garcia has raised $526,691. The two other candidates in the race, Republican Lupe Castillo and Working Class Party candidate Ed Hershey, have apparently raised less than $5,000 each because they have not registered as candidates or filed any fundraising reports with the Federal Election Commission (FEC).
While the Patty Garcia for Congress committee has received more than half of its funds from campaign committees, many associated with unions, the Getty committee has received all of its contributions from individuals.
Joseph Fitzgerald, a Riverside village trustee, has contributed to both the Getty and Garcia campaigns. Fitzgerald has donated $850 to Getty’s campaign and $250 to Garcia’s campaign. Fitzgerald told the Landmark that his contributions were connected to fundraising events.
“I’ve known both candidates for a while and when they ask (me) to go to one of their fundraisers I went to it,” Fitzgerald said.
Fitzgerald said he went to three separate fundraising events for Getty. Fitzgerald said that he contributed to a Garcia fundraising event but wasn’t able to attend the event. Fitzgerald said that, as a local village official, it is important to be on good terms with whomever wins the race.
“It’s a good practice to have working relationships with any of our elected officials,” Fitzgerald said. “One’s a current neighbor to the (south) as a mayor, so I mean whether he wins the election or not we’re still going to have a relationship with him with certain things we do in the area and same with the other candidate as well. I think it’s just good practice to have open dialogue with people.”
Fitzgerald declined to tell the Landmark who he was voting for.
“I generally prefer to keep my personal voting preferences private,” Fitzgerald said in a text message. “As a village trustee, my focus in on representing the interests of all our residents and maintaining productive working relationships with elected officials, regardless of political affiliation.”
According to FEC records the Getty for Congress campaign has received contributions of $200 or more from 17 residents of Riverside, including $3,500 each from Bruce and Donna Liimataine. Bruce Liimataine is the former president and CEO of the Finkel and Sons Steel Company and has been a generous donor to Getty’s local campaign committee in the past and to a number of other Chicago area politicians.
The FEC only itemizes campaign contributions of $200 or more. FEC records indicate that only three Riversiders have contributed $200 or more to the Patty Garcia for Congress campaign. Benjamin Van Horne, the founder of Greenline Homes which builds energy efficient and affordable housing mostly located in the Woodlawn and Bronzeville neighborhoods of Chicago, donated $1,250 to the Garcia campaign while Cristina Beran and Esther Corpuz each made $1,000 contributions to the Garcia campaign.
Three residents of Brookfield made contributions of $200 or more to the Garcia campaign while 10 residents of Brookfield contributed $200 or more to the Getty campaign. Luis Cardona of Brookfield, who is listed on FEC records as the manager of Riky’s Mexican Grill on Ogden in Lyons, donated $2,000 to the Getty campaign.
The Getty campaign received $7,000 from noted election lawyer Burt Odelson and former Republican candidate for governor Rick Heidner. Odelson’s law firm represents a number of municipalities including the Village of Lyons. It also represents Lyons Township, where Getty is the top elected official as supervisor, and Lyons School District 103 whose school board is made up of Getty loyalists. Heidner is the founder of Gold Rush Amusements, a video gambling company. Earlier this year Heidner ran for governor as a Republican but finished fourth with 8.1% of a vote.
The contribution limit for a federal campaign is $3,500 per individual per election cycle. Both Odelson and Heidner designated one $3,500 contribution for the primary and another for the general election. According to a spokesman for the FEC that is legal and permitted even though Getty did not compete in the primary because he is running as an independent as long as the primary donation meets certain time deadlines.
Odelson said that he thinks Getty’s independent campaign is just what the divided country needs right now.
“Chris is like a son to me,” Odelson told the Landmark in a telephone interview. “I’ve been with him ever since his first election. I’ve watched him develop to be a tremendous public servant that he is today. I wish I could give him more.”
Odelson’s wife Patricia has also donated $3,500 to the Getty campaign.
Lyons School District 103 Superintendent Kristopher Rivera, who lives in Indiana, contributed $850 to the Getty for Congress Committee. District 103 HR Director Stephanie Koenig contributed $566, split between two donations to Getty’s campaign, and Rivera’s administrative assistant Charlene Latronica contributed $250 to the Getty campaign.
Other Getty contributors include Michael Vondra, the head of Bluff City Materials, which sells recycled asphalt shingles. Vondra, who is known as the Asphalt King, contributed $3,500 to Getty’s campaign. One of Vondra’s company’s owned the Lyons quarry. Vondra was also a major contributor to now deceased former State Sen. Martin Sandoval who pled guilty to a federal bribery charge before dying in 2000.
A former business partner of Vondra, Amit Gauri, whose company Black Dog Petroleum, was named in a federal search warrant that preceded an FBI raid on the Lyons Village Hall, has also donated $3.500 to the Getty campaign. Vondra and Gauri have never been charged with any crimes.
Unions have been a big source of funds for the Garcia campaign as a host of political action committees of various unions have made $5,000 contributions to the Garcia campaign.
Some local politicians have also contributed to the Garcia campaign with State Sen. Mike Porifirio donating $1,000 and Melrose Park Mayor Ron Serpico donating $5,000, $3,500 for the primary campaign when Garica was unopposed and another $1,500 for the general election. Serpico’s campaign committee also contributed $1,000 to the Garcia campaign.