Mayor O'Dekirk Has $146,000 Re-Election Campaign War Chest

JOLIET, IL - Around Illinois, it's practically impossible to win a high-profile elected office without having name recognition and a sizable campaign war chest. With the March 20 Illinois primaries only a couple weeks away, interest in local political races around Will County is heating up. Political yard signs are sprouting up near major intersections like dandelions. Now also marks a great time to look ahead to one of next year's most important races in Will County. In April of 2019 voters of Joliet will decide the city's mayor. Joliet's first-term mayor, Bob O'Dekirk, is a former Joliet police officer who became a lawyer. Besides being mayor, he operates the downtown Joliet law firm of O'Dekirk, Allred & Associates.

In April 2015, O'Dekirk, a Joliet city councilman, ousted incumbent Mayor Tom Giarrante, the former long-time president of Joliet Firefighters Local 44, in Giarrante's bid for a second four-year term as mayor. Officially, O'Dekirk has not formally announced his candidacy for a second four-year term. On the other spectrum, no one has announced their plans to challenge O'Dekirk in next year's mayoral race.

ORIGINAL STORY: O'Dekirk Unseats Joliet Mayor Tom Giarrante

BACKGROUND: Mayor O'Dekirk Bio

At the moment, Citizens for O'Dekirk has more than $146,000 at its disposal, including $33,500 in contributions that have poured into the mayor of Joliet's political action committee since Dec. 31, according to a website that tracks campaign donations and political action committees across the state. The Illinois Campaign for Political Reform maintains the website called Illinois Sunshine, a free online database that tries to help journalists, voters and public policy analysts track campaign contributions across Illinois.

O'Dekirk and County Executive Larry Walsh at December's courthouse groundbreaking.

Over the weekend, Joliet Patch crunched the political contributions to Citizens for O'Dekirk. There have been 28 campaign contributions between $1,000 and $2,500 since Dec. 2 to Citizens for O'Dekirk, according to the Illinois Sunshine website. Jill Gruver is treasurer of Citizens for O'Dekirk.

The following entities made donations of at least $2,000 since December:

• Chicagoland Speedway $2,000
• Terry D'Arcy $2,500
• D Construction $2,500
• Ryan Incorporated Central $2,500
• FCL Builders $2,500
• Morgan Harbour Operating Account $2,500
• Chicago Land Operators Joliet Labor Management PAC $2,500

Terry D'Arcy runs D'Arcy Motors in Joliet.

Here's a look at some of the other large donors to Citizens for O'Dekirk from 2017:

• Law Offices of Parente & Norem, $3,500
• IBEW PAC $3,100
• Rock Run Crossings $3,100
• PT Ferro Construction Co. $3,100
• Austin Tyler Construction Inc. $3,100
• Chicago Regional Council of Carpenters $2,500
• Chicago Land Operators Joliet Labor Management Inc. $2,500
• D Construction $2,100

Images via John Ferak, Joliet Patch Editor