Reardon: $1,000 NorthPoint Donation 'Wasn't Nefarious'

JOLIET, IL — The only member of Joliet's City Council who voted for the controversial NorthPoint development last week after receiving a $1,000 political campaign donation from the company earlier this year has told Joliet's top news radio station there was nothing improper.

During an interview Friday with WJOL's morning host Scott Slocum, councilwoman Sherri Reardon was asked to explain how "out of the blue this company gives you $1,000, which was one of your biggest, other than what you gave yourself, one of your biggest campaign contributions. It had to, kind of make you scratch your head a little bit?" Slocum asked her.

On Tuesday night, Joliet's City Council approved the controversial NorthPoint development project, a 103-acre rezoning in the vicinity of Rowell Avenue and Breen Road. The five proponents of NorthPoint coming to Joliet were: Mayor Bob O'Dekirk, Reardon, Pat Mudron, Larry Hug and Jan Quillman. Those opposed to NorthPoint were: Don "Duck" Dickinson, Mike Turk, Terry Morris and Bettye Gavin.

During Friday's radio interview, Reardon answered Slocum's question by saying, "Well, I guess it should have, but it didn't. And you think of a big company, $1,000 to them is not that big a deal. I had donations from $500 and other things like that.

"I'm sorry, Scott, I know that everybody would like to make it look nefarious, but it wasn't. I got the donation, I put it in the account and I literally, actually, when it came up on social media, somebody said one of the 'Mudron Five' got a $1,000 donation from a company named EastGate and I had to ask my campaign person, 'Who was it, was it us?' And she said, 'I'll look it into.'

"And we didn't even realize it was ours, until we looked into it."

To hear Councilwoman Reardon's entire 15-minute interview with WJOL's Scott Slocum, go here.

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