'Duck' Dickinson's Campaign Funds: Here's Where Money Went

JOLIET, IL — When Don "Duck" Dickinson abruptly resigned his at-large seat on the Joliet City Council last November, the long-time Joliet Park District maintenance worker still had about $11,000 in his political campaign war chest.

A Joliet Patch review of Dickinson's quarterly campaign finance report from July now shows that there are no funds on hand for the Committee To Elect Don "Duck" Dickinson.

According to the Illinois Sunshine website, Dickinson got rid of his campaign funds mostly by making donations to other political candidates or making donations to local organizations.

Here's a rundown of the major benefactors of Dickinson's political donations that he made since his resignation from Joliet's City Council:

• $500 donation last Nov. 18 to the Joliet Police Department Explorers Post 220.
• $1,500 donation this Jan. 20 to the Committee to Elect Sherri Reardon, current Joliet City Councilwoman who is up for re-election in 2023.
• $1,000 donation on Feb. 2 to the Committee to Elect Warren Dorris. The former six-term officeholder ran for Joliet City Council in last April's municipal election and lost.
• $1,000 donation on Feb. 9 to the Friends to Elect Lorraine Guerrero Neumeyer to the board of education. She was elected to the Joliet Township High School board in April.
• $1,000 donation on March 4 to the Robert Wunderlich Campaign Fund. Wunderlich narrowly lost his race in April for Joliet City Councilman to Cesar Guerrero.
• $950 donation on March 11 to the Committee to Elect Sue Gulas to the Joliet Park District Board. Gulas won her re-election in April to a third term. She is park board president.
• $1,000 donation on April 11 to the Committee to Elect Kevin Paul to the Joliet Park District Board. Paul was elected to the park board in 2019.
• $1,000 sponsorship on May 26 to the Big Brothers Big Sisters of Will and Grundy Counties.
• $600 paid to David Thornton for his 2021 first and second quarter accounting work on the Committee to Elect Don "Duck" Dickinson. Thornton is listed as the treasurer.
• $1,335.09 donation to the Glen Marcum Foundation on June 28.

Dickinson's resignation last November occurred several days after he spoke up at a Joliet City Council meeting suggesting he had been a blackmail victim during the past several months over photos Dickinson says he took of his own genitals and sent to a woman he had a consensual relationship.

Joliet Mayor Bob O'Dekirk angrily denied the allegation that he was involved in the blackmail scheme, telling the WJOL radio station, "I don't have a naked photo of Don "Duck" Dickinson. I've never seen a photo of Don. I don't ever want to see a naked photo of Don Dickinson or any other man."

Mayor O'Dekirk went on to tell WJOL that "apparently he's engaging in these perverted acts, to bring me into this, it's 100 percent untrue."

Since resigning office with six months left to serve the citizens of Joliet, Dickinson has disappeared from Joliet politics and political fund-raisers. He also retired from his job at the Joliet Park District. People who know him say he has attended the free music concerts held this summer at Preservation Park on Taylor Street near the University of St. Francis.

When Joliet Patch's editor took the job in 2017, some long-time Joliet community leaders predicted that Dickinson would become the next mayor of Joliet.

Last November, Joliet Park Board member Jennifer Jobe-Gavin issued a news release denouncing Dickinson's actions and threatening to sue him. By that point, Dickinson had filed a police report claiming that O'Dekirk was blackmailing him with nude photos that Dickinson claimed he was exchanging with Jobe-Gavin.

"Due to the malicious actions of The City of Joliet Councilman-at-Large Don "Duck" Dickinson have left her with no other options but to move forward with litigious actions against said individuals," Jobe-Gavin's stated in her news release.

However, Jobe-Gavin has not filed any civil litigation surrounding the matter.

Related Joliet Patch coverage:

O'Dekirk's Biggest Campaign Donors: Mayor Raises Another $66,650