Joliet council candidates make pledge for more disclosure on campaign funding, city contracts

Several candidates in the Joliet City Council election on Wednesday announced a pledge for more transparency in city contracts and campaign contributions.

The announcement was made while candidates still are in the process of filing petitions by a Monday deadline to run in the April 6 election, and it’s not clear whether everyone who signed onto the pledge is running.

But candidate Hudson Hollister announced that 10 have signed onto the pledge.

“This is a broad roof,” Hollister said at a news conference outside City Hall. “There are progressives under this roof. There are conservatives under this roof. There are business people in this group. There are people from nonprofits.”

Others appearing at the event were Jeremy Brzycki, Cesar Guerrero, Isiah Williams Jr. and Bob Wunderlich. All but Wunderlich have filed for the election, and Wunderlich said he plans to before the end of the week.

Others not there but who have signed onto the pledge, according to Hollister, are Warren Dorris, Kevin Hegarty, Janean Jackson, Jim Lanham and Nicole Lurry. Only Lanham and Lurry have filed petitions as of Wednesday.

“History has shown time and time again that the combination of money and power is a dangerous one,” Guerrero said at the news conference.

“The city of Joliet is full of opportunities,” Guerrero said. “And where there is opportunity, there are opportunists ready to profit.”

The pledge outlined four points:

• Disclosure of financial interest related to city government or city policy, including interests of council members’ spouses and businesses in city contracts and pensions;

• Monthly disclosure of reportable campaign contributions in addition to the required quarterly disclosures with the state board of elections;

• Improved public access to data on city contracts and contractors;

• Improved public access to all payments by city government to contractors and vendors.

“How can the public trust elected officials if they don’t know who’s backing their campaigns? The answer is they can’t,” Brzycki said, adding that “people need to know who may be influencing their elected officials.”

Twenty-two people took out petitions to run for the three at-large council petitions that will be on the ballot, but only seven have filed so far.