Candidates from this year’s municipal elections filed reports with the Illinois State Board of Elections last week, documenting the money they spent and received between January and March.
The deadline to file was April 15 although the state board of elections did not post many of the candidates’ reports by press time. But based on the information currently available, the mayoral race accounted for the most money spent and received.
Between the last two filing periods, which spanned July 1, 2010 through March 31, 2011, Mayor Anthony Calderone raised $70,680. He was re-elected on April 5, and campaigning for his fourth term in office cost his committee, Citizens for Calderone, $67,366.
Calderone’s opponent, outgoing Commissioner Marty Tellalian, raised $24,342 in that same period. But Tellalian personally financed $17,723 of his campaign. In other words, nearly 73 percent of the money Tellalian raised came from his pocket. Furthermore, Tellalian’s committee, Citizens for Tellalian, spent $22,140 in that time.
Calderone did not spend any of his own money during the campaign, according to state records.
Tellalian raised the bulk of his money during the last filing period, between January 1 and March 31, when his committee brought in $23,740. Before that, he had only raised $601 between July 1 and December 31 of last year. On the flipside, Calderone raised the bulk of his money in the earlier filing period, accruing $40,040, and then accumulating $30,640 between January and March of this year.
Only four of Tellalian’s contributors live outside of Forest Park and their contributions totaled $1,110 between the two filing periods.
“This was a campaign for the people of Forest Park,” Tellalian said.
During that time, Citizens for Calderone accepted $26,530 from contributors outside of Forest Park, which means that nearly 38 percent of the money Citizens for Calderone raised in the last two filing periods came from people or companies not located in the village. Calderone also accepted $1,380 from out-of-state donors. That includes $1,000 from Strack and Van Til LLC, a supermarket franchise located in Highland, Ind. and $380 donated by a Colorado man.
Calderone did not return a phone call or email seeking comment.
Campaign disclosure reports were also published for the committees of commissioners Mark Hosty and Tom Mannix by press time.
The Committee to Elect Mark S. Hosty raised $7,058 in the last filing period and spent $6,992 campaigning during that time. Hosty’s committee had $3,924 in its war chest prior to the most recent filing period, but it did not raising or spend much money between July 1 and December 31 of last year.
Friends of Mannix, Tom Mannix’s campaign committee, raised $5,160 between March 17 and 31. When he created the committee, Mannix had $2,900 on hand, so with the money raised, the committee had $8,060 to spend. Mannix’s campaign was also partly self-financed: He put $2,400 of his own money into his run.
“I believe a first-time candidate should contribute to his campaign,” Mannix emailed the Forest Park Review. “As a first-time candidate, I would not expect others to contribute to me if I would not at least match their donations.”
Thirteen candidates ran for village board; most had campaign committees, which are required by state law, if more than $3,000 is raised. Some have filed and their reports are not yet available while others did not raise that much money, and, subsequently did not create committees.
The incoming village board will feature Mayor Anthony Calderone and commissioners Chris Harris, Rory Hoskins, Mark Hosty and Tom Mannix.
