Chicago Daily Observer

While Barack Obama figures to be an unalloyed asset to down-ballot Illinois Democrats this fall, another statewide politician is threatening to become an equally significant drag on one of the Democrats’ leading congressional recruits.

Democratic Gov. Rod Blagojevich is proving so politically toxic that he has become a central issue in the campaign to succeed retiring Republican Rep. Jerry Weller. Democratic state Senate Majority Leader Debbie Halvorson and Republican concrete magnate Martin Ozinga III are each accusing the other of having closer ties to the two-term governor, one of the country’s most unpopular executives.

The Illinois Senate quietly approved a bill this spring that would have steered the proposed third airport down a path of pay-to-play politics – and certain doom.

I know, because Antoin “Tony” Rezko attempted to lead Congressman Jesse Jackson Jr. down that same path two years ago – a proposal Jackson flatly rejected.

Pay-to-play was the pathway laid out in Senate Bill 2063, sponsored by state Sen. Debbie Halvorson. That bill would have codified what Rezko essentially proposed to Jackson, ALNAC and its developers (SNC-Lavalin and LCOR), which was to create an airport board comprised of appointed – not elected – commissioners.

These non-elected insiders would have enormous powers to control the project – including eminent domain, condemnation, taxation, and contracts galore – yet they’d stand accountable to no one.

Sound familiar?

When Republican county chairmen recruited Martin Ozinga III of Homer Glen to step into the race for the 11th Congressional District seat, they secured what appeared to be a wealthy, successful businessman to the ticket with little political background.

Ozinga, 58, is certainly well off. According to his federal candidate financial disclosure, he earned $478,421 last year as president of the Ozinga Bros. ready-mix concrete company and 26 other companies and entities that he runs or is affiliated as a board member.

His individual and jointly held assets, which are declared in broad ranges of value, amounted to between $6.5 million to $25.2 million last year. They generated between $1.2 million and $6.2 million in additional income.