How to buy an election – with cronyism thrown in for good measure

Illinois, in its finite wisdom, actually got it right when they set up our local mayor and city council elections. Anyone willing to pound the pavement with a semblance of fundraising skills has a shot, particularly if your goal is to serve on the city council.

We’re not talking about larger municipalities like Elgin, Aurora, and Naperville, which require an experienced campaign team and some serious money to be competitive. But in the Tri-Cities go, these non-partisan elections generally prevent the party apparatus from getting involved and the requirements for throwing your hat into the ring aren’t terribly onerous.

The actual numbers are based on how many ballots were cast in the previous mayoral race, but suffice it to say we’re talking about 500 signatures to run in St. Charles, Geneva, or Batavia. Any enterprising candidate with a few willing friends can come up with that number in less than a month (plus a few more to stave off petition challenges).

Better yet, because those odd-year elections draw so little interest, your target voter list can be quite manageable. It’s certainly far less daunting than a countywide contest:

• Charles – 3,800 mayoral ballots cast
• Geneva – 4,500 mayoral ballots cast
• Batavia – 5,400 mayoral ballots cast

Remember, all it takes is 50.1 percent to win, so if you do a reasonable job of identifying the voters most likely to give you the thumbs up, your voter list becomes even more manageable.

Money? You must be either self-financing or charm your well-considered benefactor list out of their hard earned cash on the way to spending up to 20 grand to compete in a 25,000-ish Illinois town. Even if you can’t come up with the cash, I’ve seen candidates, particularly the aldermanic variety, who’ve more than made up for it with some real campaign hustle. As effective as signs and mailers can be, they pale in comparison to face-to-face voter contact.

To wit, in the most recent Geneva mayoral race, challenger Ray Pawlik spent a little over $13,000 to fall short by 100 votes, while Mayor Kevin Burns spent less than $5,000. Batavia incumbent Mayor Jeff Schielke also put up less than five grand, while opponent Tom Connelly unlocked his wallet just long enough to cough up a miserly $482—and still came within 400 votes of an 11-term incumbent. Had our overly frugal attorney candidate, who regularly asks clients for $5,000 retainers, loaned himself $2,000 to $3,000, it would’ve been much closer.

Which brings us back to St. Charles.

Though I’m blissfully out of the loop these days, on a night when most Kane County mayoral incumbents not named “Irvin” did well, I wondered how challenger Clint Hull managed to so thoroughly thrash incumbent Lori Vitek. I initially chalked it up to hard work and that Ms. Vitek had somehow aggravated too many voters. But that wasn’t the case.

Though Hull was certainly no campaign slouch, a friend just informed me that the real difference was Hull’s fundraising. He raked in and spent almost $100,000—$87,734.77 to be exact. That same friend aptly remarked, “Apparently Clint really wanted to be mayor.” He certainly won’t recover that obscene amount from a job that pays $17,500 a year.

As a former prosecutor and judge with a slew of wealthy contacts, it was Hull’s capacity to get his fellow attorneys to crack open their checkbooks (no small feat) that doomed Vitek to be a one-termer. She, too, spent an inordinate $47,000, but it’s tough to beat a challenger who outspends you two-to-one.

So, Hull won with 4,864 votes or 59 percent of the proceedings. Do the math and that comes out to a patently ridiculous $18 per vote, which has got to be a Kane County record. Though it’s not one you want to brag about. Hull was well within his rights—and campaign law—to spend that profane amount, but the St. Charles mayoral race will never be the same, and it won’t be for the better, either.

The fact that what Hull did was legal doesn’t make it right and, of all people, a former judge should understand that distinction.

Were it not for Hull’s campaign haul, Vitek would’ve been the Kane County master fundraiser. I can’t remember the last time a consolidated election candidate raised nearly $50,000.

Given those despicable amounts, any “regular” candidate will automatically be excluded from the festivities as a result of this unfortunate new dynamic. Money isn’t the only issue, either. With $134,000 in campaign cash raining down upon the city, that formerly lackluster 3,800 consolidated election turnout more than doubled to 8,400 in April. So, not only will a Hull challenger have to come up with some serious campaign cash, but they’ll need to assemble an efficient team to hit at least 5,000 doors. That’s never an easy proposition.

To put it in perspective, a solid candidate like Ray Rogina, who spent $13,000 to take the St. Charles’ helm in 2013, wouldn’t stand a chance in 2029. Hull essentially bought the election, and now that he’s the incumbent, it will be even more difficult to unseat him. Not to mention he still has $60,000 left in his campaign account, too.

All I can say is, for a lifelong resident who persistently proclaims his love for St. Charles, Hull is doing his damnedest to undermine everything he previously claimed to care about. Talk about destroying the thing you “love.”

And the kicker is, when you consider his almost pathological need to be liked by everyone he meets, it doesn’t bode well for Hull’s ability to lead an often-recalcitrant city council. We have to give him a chance, but Hull’s never struck me as mayoral material. You’ve got to have a pachyderm’s skin to survive that thankless gig, and he does not.

As for the cronyism, Geneva’s Griffin, Williams law firm, which coughed up 5 grand to rank as Hull’s second largest donor, was just appointed the City attorney. I don’t know about you, but I’d bet there were any number of St. Charles attorneys/law firms who would’ve loved to have a shot at that lucrative gig.

Hull’s largest contributor was McGrath Honda owner Gary McGrath, who bestowed $5,000 from the business and the same amount from his personal funds. There’s nothing quite like taking 10 grand from what may well be the most poorly regarded business in the city. Anyone who’s ever tried to buy a car from McGrath knows exactly what I’m talking about. Given Hull’s already questionable track record, I’m guessing Gary’s pretty much gonna get whatever he wants out of the new mayor.

So, here’s the bottom line. Aside from coming out of semi-retirement to write this piece, now that I’m caught up, I’ll be putting Hull’s every mayoral move under The First Ward microscope. While I regret the timbre of our last conversation (and it will be our last conversation), I tend to get a little hot under the collar when someone like Hull so easily betrays every last principle he claims he’s stood for over the past 20 years. And that’s particularly true of a former prosecutor and judge.

Furthermore, if some reasonably enterprising candidate is willing to take Hull on in 2029, I will be more than happy to provide my inestimable campaign management services at the friends and family rate. It’s easy to find me. I’ve already won a countywide race despite being outspent five-to-one, and I know exactly how to beat Clint Hull. Aside from my efforts, someone seriously needs to restore balance to the St. Charles force.

As is always the case, I provided the mayor with ample opportunity to respond, but he chose no to.  What could he possibly have said? Clint Hull buying an election? Under a thin veneer of decency, he’s turned out to be every bit as hypocritical and contemptible as I’ve always feared he was. St. Charles, you deserve far better than this.

Next week we’ll carefully cover Hull’s donor list and and how outside money is now determining the fate of St. Charles.