Pay to play alive and well in Tinley Park

Pay to Play is the Tinley Way.

Last year, the Village of Tinley Park took the unusual step to hire outside security to help with Tinley Park’s Ribfest.

The Downers Grove-based P4 Security Solutions LLC received a $65,610 contract for summer security which included Ribfest.

Then a short time later the same P4 Security Solutions LLC made a sizeable campaign donation to Friends of Michael Glotz. In other words, taxpayer money was used to hire a security firm and in turn that same company put money into Michael Glotz’s campaign account.

This donation raises some serious questions. The first question is why was a security firm hired in the first place? Why not use the Tinley Park Police Department? We don’t use private security contractors for Tinley’s Park Amphitheater. In fact, the Village of Tinley Park is reimbursed for police services at the Tinley Park Amphitheater.

Why was P4 Security Solutions LLC selected as the firm to use? Did the selection of P4 Security Solutions LLC have anything to do with the company’s past history of campaign donations? Will the Village hire private security for upcoming summer events? If so, will they again retain P4 Security Solutions LLC’s services? And if they again hire P4 Security Solutions LLC, will the decision to go with them have anything to do with the company’s campaign donations to Mayor Glotz? Why doesn’t this go out to bid? Why is EventWiz, charging for admission to Ribfest and in return donating to GLOTZ and the One Tinley Park PAC?

When Village officials accept money from companies doing business with the Village, it calls into question the integrity of the process. The message being sent is businesses willing to pay to play have an unfair advantage when it comes to being awarded government contracts. Regardless of intent, the optics here are bad. We need and deserve better from our leaders. If we are going to turn the page on the politics of the past in Tinley Park, we need to end even the appearance of pay to play. Tinley Park residents are paying more today in increased fees so that Glotz and his PACS have over 360,000.00 dollars in their political funds! When is enough, enough???