November 16, 2024
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Will County Treasurer race: Republicans bash Brophy on bankruptcy

2012 bankruptcy involved Brophy and partners in real estate business

By Bob Okon
Election 2024
“They have to make the number,” Weber said. “If they don’t make the interest rate, they don’t get the award. It’s that simple.” In 2018, MB Financial Bank donated $1,000, and First Midwest Bancorp donated $1,500 to Weber’s campaign, according to illinoissunshine.org. Brophy has also accused Weber of nepotism for hiring his wife in the treasurer’s office. “There’s no defense of nepotism,” Brophy said. “It should not be done when you’re dealing with other people’s money.” Weber defended the practice by saying she works part time, is the lowest paid employee in the office at $13 an hour and does not report directly to him. To top it off, Brophy said, it was “shocking” Weber recently broadcast on Facebook some of his chicken eggs hatching from the treasurer’s office. Weber said he raises free range chickens from a rescue and “wanted to bring a little country into the office.” Weber was first elected in 2010 and was the county auditor from 2000 to 2008. Brophy was a Joliet City Council member from 1995 to 2011. The Will County Democratic Central Committee nominated him to run against Weber.

Will County Treasurer Tim Brophy

The Will County Republican Party attempted to draw attention this week to a decade-old bankruptcy case involving Democratic Will County Treasurer Tim Brophy, saying he should have made people aware of it himself.

Will County Republicans issued a news release highlighting the previously undisclosed 2012 business-related bankruptcy and criticizing Brophy, who is on the ballot in Tuesday’s election, for not raising the issue previously.

Brophy, who is facing a challenge from Plainfield accountant Raj Pillai, acknowledged the bankruptcy and said he made no attempt to hide it.

“It’s public record,” Brophy said, questioning why the bankruptcy had not been brought out until the week before the election.

Nevertheless, Will County Republican Party Chairman Tim Ozinga blasted Brophy in a news release about the bankruptcy.

“The revelation of his undisclosed bankruptcy is another example of him proving he can’t be trusted with our tax dollars,” Ozinga said.

The bankruptcy involving Brophy and partners in a real estate business preceded his becoming treasurer in 2018. But it was not publicly known until the Will County Republican Party attempted to draw attention to it this week.

Brophy said the Chapter 7 bankruptcy involved a property acquisition made by himself and two partners in a real estate and mortgage business a few years before the 2008 Great Recession hit.

“I think a lot of small business professionals were taken down by the financial meltdown of 2008,” he said. “We did nothing wrong. Since the whole industry went down, we went down too.”

The bankruptcy did not include any personal debt, Brophy said.

Raj Pillai questions the minutes from the July 12th meeting at the Veterans Assistance Commission Committee meeting at the Will County Office Building. Tuesday, Sept. 13, 2022, in Joliet.

Repubican Raj Pillai seen here at a September meeting of the Veterans Assistance Commission of Will County, is running against Will County Treasurer Tim Brophy in the election on Tuesday. (Gary Middendorf)

It involved a building on the southwest corner of Plainfield Road and Theodore Street in Joliet that the partners acquired for the offices of Dow Realty and Dow Mortgage Co. as an investment in the future of the company, he said. But once the recession hit, the deal went sour.

“We tried to keep it alive,” Brophy said. “We tried to keep the building to the point that the bank would not renew the note.”

The group sold the property for half of what was owed on it, he said. The bankruptcy led to the closing of Dow Mortgage, although Dow Realty remained in business.

“I’m just one of many people who got sucked down by the weight of that financial meltdown,” Brophy said.

Brophy said he did not see any reason to draw attention to the bankruptcy when he decided to run for treasurer in 2018. He said it did not come up in questionnaires or surveys he filled out for that election or this one.

Brophy has noted his past experience in real estate and banking as attributes for his position as treasurer without mentioning that the experience included a bankruptcy.

Brophy has brought up late campaign finance filings by Pillai with the state election board, questioning Pillai’s competency to serve as treasurer.

Pillai in turn has said his amended filings were not unusual and allowed by the election board, which, he noted, fined Brophy $300 in 2019.