Team Conspires to Keep Secret Agenda Hidden

HIDING IN PLAIN SIGHT
Shocking revelations have arisen from a comparison of documents obtained under the State of Illinois' Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) law. Through FOIA, the public has the right to obtain all public documents, with few exceptions (more on that that below).

A review of the same documents from two different sources has revealed surprising details that were hidden from the public by intentionally side-stepping the FOIA law. One set of public documents, obtained from the Tinley Park Park District, was so heavily censored it is almost unreadable. Since FOIA requires an explanation for all censorship, and the Park District's attorney Burt Odelson's law firm oversees their FOIA program, it is nearly impossible for this to be an error or misunderstanding of the law. Bear in mind that it takes more time and effort to censor documents than to release them uncensored. More censorship = more legal fees.

The second set of identical documents were obtained directly from the State of Illinois and are minimally censored. A comparison of the documents gives shocking insight into the Park District's plans for the 280 acre Tinley Park Mental Health Center property. Plans, it appears, they apparently want to keep hidden from the public, enough that they would intentionally side-step Illinois Law to prevent the public from learning the truth.

DIFFERENCES REVEAL LARGER PLANS
When viewed side-by-side, the documents reveal that the Park District Board didn't want the public to know they plan to use Tinley Park taxpayer funds to build and support a "Regional" center aimed at attracting upwards of 400,000 people from surrounding communities including Midlothian, Country Club Hills, Hazel Crest, East Hazel Crest, Homewood, Matteson, Richton Park, University Park, Park Forest, Flossmoor, Glenwood, Chicago Heights, Posen, Harvey, and Oak Forest.

Consider how they've operated the White Canyon Waterpark, which regularly experiences more non-resident users than local tax-paying citizens. Those same tax-paying citizens often fear using the waterpark due to overcrowding and vehicle crime from the Park District's security failures.

Tinley Park taxpayers subsidize a "Regional" waterpark they fear using and it is primarily used by non-taxpayers. This is the model they plan to use for their regional facility, but on a much larger scale.

The hidden text of the documents also reveals how much more Tinley Park taxpayer funds the Park District Board is ready and willing to spend on their "Regional" center designed for non-residents. On top of their planned $13 million per year for operations, they plan to spend as much as $50 million more for just the first 1/3 of the property. That doesn't include the cleanup costs, which are likely to over $32 million according to 10-year old professional estimates made by the same company the Park District Board hired to consult on the cleanup.

These are facts that Senator Hastings, Bob Rita, Mike Maloney, Ashley Rubino, Lisa O'Donovan, Bernie O'Boyle, Don Cuba, and Marie Ryan don't want you to know. They pay Burt Odelson's law firm tens of thousands of taxpayer dollars to censor public documents and hide information from those same taxpayers, in clear violation of the FOIA Law.

---- That darn FOIA Law sure gets in the way... so, what is a State Senator to do about it? ----

HASTINGS' PROPOSES FOIA LIMITS AND PUNISHMENTS
Senator Hastings, Bob Rita, Mike Maloney, and the Park District Commissioners have publicly complained about FOIA requests. They say things like, the requests are "excessive" and "burdensome", resulting in tens of thousands in legal fees, paid almost exclusively Burt Odelson's law firm. However, the document comparison mentioned earlier clearly demonstrates that their objections to FOIA requests is hiding something far more sinister. Backroom deals and half-truths are far too common in Illinois politics which continue to be controlled by the likes of Hastings, Rita, and their political allies in the Illinois House and Senate.

In a blatant attempt to silence all who dare question his team or try to reveal their motives, Senator Hastings' has introduced Senate Bill SB1357 to weaken the Freedom of Information Act by placing severe imitations on specific groups of citizens and add extreme penalties for asking too many questions. His bill places significant burden on local governments across the State, known as an 'unfunded mandate', which translates directly to higher taxes or reduced services, or even both.

THIS ISN'T THE FIRST HASTINGS/RITA RODEO
On January 21, 2025, Senator Hastings contributed $50,000 to the "Tinley Together" slate in yet another attempt to take control of the Village of Tinley Park. In his first attempt, Hastings got his hooks into Tinley Park in 2017 through gained former Mayor Jake Vandenberg. But Hastings' failed in that effort by thinking too small and having but a single Rodeo Clown in Vandenberg with which to control the entire Rodeo. After a few too many Vandenberg blunders, Hastings himself from Vandenberg and went back to the drawing board.

In December 2022, Representative Bob Rita arranged a meeting with the State's Central Management Services (CMS) agency and brought along his daughter, Ashley Rubino, who worked under CMS with the Department of Corrections. It was not 'Bring your daughter to work day'.

The topic on the agenda for that meeting was the planned transfer of the Tinley Park Mental Health Center from the State of Illinois to the Tinley Park Park District, for which Ashley Rubino was a sitting Commissioner. While no transcript or notes from that meeting have surfaced, it is noteworthy that within two weeks of this meeting, the top TWO officials for CMS, COO Ayse and Director Anthony Pascente, submitted their resignations at the same time. In another shocking turn, the CMS General Counsel also resigned just two weeks after that.

Following their abrupt and unexplained resignations, Ayse and Pascente contacted Tinley Park Village Manager Pat Carr to inform him about Bob Rita and Ashley Rubino’s actions and stated they believed it was a conflict of interest for Rita to bring his daughter to the meeting. Again, it was not 'Bring your daughter to work day'. They expressed regret about the situation with Rita and his daughter, assuring Carr that the consensus among CMS employees was that the Village of Tinley Park had negotiated in good faith for years to acquire the property and that the best course of action for the State of Illinois would be to sell it to the Village, not the Park District.

TINLEY TOGETHER TEAM'S TROUBLE WITH NUMBERS
As noted earlier, the censored documents revealed that the Park District Board intends to issue as much as $50 million in public debt for the first 90 acres alone, which completely contradicts their public claims that the cleanup and buildout would not cost taxpayers any money. This raises serious concerns about their understanding of financial matters and their ability to be honest with their tax-paying constituents.

Issuing $50 million in public debt is nearly FOUR TIMES more that their entire annual budget. What's more, they are legally prohibited from issuing more than $7 million in public debt without voter approval by referendum, and they are prohibited from issuing more than $42 million in total. This means they are either ignorant of these basic facts or they intentionally misled the State and misrepresented their ability to finance such a large project.

It's also possible they are counting on yet another legislative bail out from Hastings and Rita. What the heck, it's worked multiple times already.

IS ENOUGH IS ENOUGH?
The Tinley Together team is proud of their connections to Senator Hastings and Bob Rita. They're proud of the support from them, whether it's legislative shenanigans, direct campaign funding, or a small army of paid campaign workers bussed in directly from Blue Island.

Tinley Park is a great place to live... in fact, it's been voted the BEST place to live multiple times. That is not because of people like Hastings, Rita, and their Friends and Family program.

If they are not stopped, Tinley Park will become another Blue Island or Orland Hills, owned and operated by outsiders and their families.

Ask yourself why Mike Maloney, Ashley Rubino, Marie Ryan, Senator Hastings, Bob Rita, and the rest of team would spend tens of thousands in legal fees to Burt Odelson to censor public documents and side-step the FOIA Law? Why would Senator Hastings move the change the FOIA Law to stop you from learning the truth?

Tinley Park Deserves Better