More than $1 million spent in Orland Park, Tinley Park mayoral campaigns

Yahoo

07-07-2025

When he ran for a full term as Orland Park's village clerk in 1991, James Dodge figures he spent about $3,000.
Flash forward to this past spring's mayoral election. In the months leading up to the April 1 election, Dodge and his political committees shelled out nearly $190,000, according to state campaign finance reports.
He defeated Keith Pekau, who was seeking a third term and running with his own slate of candidates. Pekau, through two election committees, spent almost twice as much as Dodge, campaign filings for the first quarter show.
And it wasn't just Orland Park with big election outlays.
Tinley Park mayoral candidates Michael Glotz and Michael Maloney, spent more than $700,000 January through March, according to state finance filings.
Voters and elections have gotten more complicated, with candidates competing for the attention of potential supporters through a variety of media and messages, Dodge said.
'You are competing with all the advertisements and messages everybody is exposed to every day,' Dodge said Thursday. 'You are trying to break through with your message.'
That means ads on cable television, data acquisition to find out voter demographics, messages on social media across different platforms and the reliable standards of yard signs and mailers, Dodge said.
'The nature of campaigns nowadays is you are competing with everything, and there is a lot of competition for people's attention,' he said. 'You have to have enough communication to get through all of that.'
It costs money and involves paid workers for things such as photography and media production, a monitored online presence responsive to voter question. Even the old standby mailer has gotten pricier over election cycles, Dodge said.
'Nowadays even an oversize post card costs about 70 cents each to deliver to each home,' including the cost of design and printing, he said. 'If you are sending it out to 10,000 homes you are looking at $70,000.'
During that same first-quarter period, the candidates and their election campaigns in Orland Park took in contributions of more than $400,000, according to state campaign finance filings.
Tinley Park also saw significant amounts of money spent, and earned, in the weeks prior to the election.
Incumbent Mayor Michael Glotz and challenger Michael Maloney took in more than $200,000 during the sprint to Election Day, according to records.
Glotz won a second term, defeating Michael Maloney April 1.
Through his own mayoral election committee and the One Tinley Park committee, which fielded candidates for trustee and clerk, Glotz spent more than a half-million dollars in the January-March quarter, disclosure statements show.
Glotz responded to text messages Wednesday and Thursdays to arrange an interview, but never did commit to a time to respond to questions.
Tinley Together, which Michael Maloney headed as the mayoral challenger to Glotz, took in about $182,000 in the January-March quarter and spent $177,000, according to state filings.
The mayor's Friends of Michael Glotz took in $20,100 in the first quarter, but spent $149,000, with contributions including $72,000 to the One Tinley Park committee.
One Tinley Park fielded Glotz and candidates, and the committee took in more than $190,000 and spent close to $385,000, according to state electoral board filings showing first-quarter income and spending.
Both mayors listed expenses for photography, signs, printing and campaign help.
In Dolton, one-term Mayor Tiffany Henyard received a pittance in contributions during the home stretch of the campaign.
Trustee Jason House easily ousted Henyard, locking up 88% of the vote in the village's Democratic primary. In the April 1 general election, he received more than 95% of the vote over Independent mayoral candidate Casundra Hopson-Jordan.
During the first quarter, House's Friends of Jason House, recorded receipts of a bit more than $31,000 and spent a little more than $45,000, according to state finance reports.
Spending included outlays for consulting, text blasts and mailings.
He headed the Clean House ticket, which also featured candidates for trustee and clerk. State electoral board records did not show any filings for that committee.
Henyard's Friends of Tiffany Henyard showed total receipts of $1,000 and no expenditures during the January-March quarter, according to the report filed by her Friends of Tiffany Henyard committee.
Filings showed the committee ended the election with just under $90,000 on hand, although debts totaled $58,000. All of the debt is comprised of loans Henyard has made to her campaign dating to January 2021, with the most recent loan, for $25,000, coming last November, according to her committee's most recent report.
In Orland Park, Dodge's Dodge for Mayor committee took in $55,200 in the first quarter, and spent more than $34,000 during that period for things such as research and marketing, according to the committee's recent state filing.
He headed the Orland Park for All committee, which recorded first-quarter receipts of $119,000 and expenses over the same period of $138,000.
The money went for things such as advertising on Google, printing, renting office space and mailings, according to the committee's quarterly filing.
Pekau's Keith for Mayor committee recorded first-quarter intake of $46,600, and expenses of $165,500, according to state filings.
The committee transferred $120,000 in February and March to the People Over Politics slate Pekau headed.
People Over Politics saw total receipts in the first quarter of more than $187,000, and that included nearly $150,000 in transfers from Pekau's mayoral committee and money chipped in by candidates on the ticket.
People Over Politics recorded expenses in the first quarter of a bit more than $230,000, with money going to things such as phone polling, printing, consulting, advertising and yard signs, according to its quarterly filing.