Martin Ozinga

IL-11: Marty, Where Are You?

Adam Doster — Tue, 04 Nov 2008 15:05:00 -0800

On my way east from Joliet to Indiana this afternoon, I swung by the Mokena-based campaign office of Marty Ozinga. The 11th District GOP congressional candiate operates out of an office building tucked behind his own massive concrete plants. I figured I'd hang around the parking lot and talk to some volunteers as they made their way to or from the building.

I waited. And waited. And walked around the building. And stood by the door. But I didn't see one soul. Granted, it's entirely possible that his field staff was already hard at work getting Republicans to the polls. Unfortunately for 11th District conservatives, I kind of doubt it.

Ozinga Goes On Self-Funding Spree

Josh Kalven — Fri, 31 Oct 2008 07:02:35 -0700

GOP congressional candidate Marty Ozinga had loaned $320,000 of his own money to his 11th District campaign by the end of the third quarter. Campaign finance reports show that, in the month since, he has given an additional $250,000 to the effort, bringing his total personal contribution to $570,000 this election year. This amount flies in the face of Ozinga's statement in September that he wouldn't be "writing big checks for my own campaign. I just don't believe in that."

It also begs the queston: if the Supreme Court had not struck down the Millionaire's Amendment earlier this year, would Democrat Debbie Halvorson now be able to raise some last-minute funds from her maxed-out donors?

First some background.

After Tim Baldermann bowed out of the race shortly after winning the GOP primary, many surmised that the county chairmen in charge of choosing a replacement would pick the wealthy Ozinga due to his ability to self-fund. But once tapped as the Republican candidate, Ozinga tamped down those expectations, telling the Tribune on May 1 that he would not spend more than $350,000.

At the time, crossing that $350,000 threshold triggered the Millionaire's Amendment, which -- depending on certain conditions -- could have potentially tripled (from $2,300 to $6,900) the maximum individual contribution to his opponents. In June, however, t he Supreme Court struck down that particular law. When Tribune reporter David Mendell asked whether the ruling changed Ozinga's gameplan, campaign manager Andy Sere didn't necessarilly rule out exceeding the $350,000 mark. "He's not planning to spend a ton of money out of his pocket," Sere said. "[H]e has not made a decision on how much exactly he is going to spend."

Then, appearing before the Tribune editorial board this fall, Ozinga declared: "I won't be writing big checks for my own campaign. I just don't believe in that." Watch it:

As of September 29 -- the date of the editorial board meeting -- Ozinga had only loaned his campaign $220,000.* During the following month, he handed over an additional $250,000. In a press release yesterday, the Halvorson campaign asked this apt question: "If that's not a 'big check' to millionaire Marty Ozinga ... what is?" The campaign also pointed out that Ozinga had said "I still feel middle class" during that same Tribune meeting.

So would Ozinga's personal loans have triggered the Millionaire's Amendment, allowing donors to triple their maximum contributions to Halvorson? Yes. But the threshold in this case would have been $554,000 -- not $350,000. This is because the formula for the now-defunct amendment takes into account any disparity in fundraising early in the election year. Halvorson had raised $408,000 by January 31 and Ozinga nothing (he wouldn't become a candidate until months later), so the $350,000 threshold would have been raised by half that amount -- to $554,000.

Would the increased contirbution limits have made a difference in the final week of the campaign? Perhaps. As of October 15, the two campaigns were pretty evenly matched in terms of cash-on-hand (Ozinga with $206,000, Halvorson with $237,000). She could have made an instant appeal to her maxed-out donors and maybe covered some additional advertising before Election Day.

Would that have really been necessary at this point? With recent polls showing Halvorson ahead by double digits, probably not. But we'll find out for sure on Election Day.

*CORRECTION: This post originally stated that, as of September 29, Ozinga had loaned his campaign only $70,000. In fact, at that time he had loaned himself $220,000.

New DCCC Ads Hit 10th And 11th Districts

Josh Kalven — Mon, 27 Oct 2008 16:21:15 -0700

The Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee (DCCC) has a new ad out hitting 11th District GOP candidate Marty Ozinga as "out for himself -- not for us." Watch it:

The DCCC also has a new spot up in the 10th District that uses snippets from local media outlets to whack GOP Rep. Mark Kirk:

Roll Call Poll: Halvorson 50%, Ozinga 37%

Josh Kalven — Thu, 23 Oct 2008 09:21:08 -0700

Roll Call has conducted the latest poll in the 11th Congressional District, and like the internal survey released on Friday and our own poll published on Monday, this one shows Democrat Debbie Halvorson with support in the 50 percent range and a double-digit lead over her Republican opponent:

Survey USA for Roll Call. 10/20-21. Likely voters. MoE 4%

Debbie Halvorson (D): 50%
Marty Ozinga (R): 37%
Jason Wallace (G): 9%

The new survey also undermines the Ozinga camp's complaints about our poll in the 11th District. The SouthtownStar reported yesterday that campaign manager Andy Sere questioned the "reliability" of our poll because it left out Green Party candidate Jason Wallace. However, Roll Call reports that Wallace appears to be hurting Ozinga:

The third-party candidate also appears to be helping Halvorson, siphoning off more votes from registered Republicans than registered Democrats in the poll, as well as 20 percent of the vote from self-described independents.

(H/T Capitol Fax)

New Halvorson Ad Whacks Ozinga On Late Taxes

Josh Kalven — Thu, 23 Oct 2008 08:23:49 -0700

Here's the latest ad from 11th District Democratic candidate Debbie Halvorson, which hits Republican Marty Ozinga on his concrete company's history of late taxes, which we wrote about back in July. Watch it:

Progress Illinois Poll In IL-11: Halvorson 50%, Ozinga 29%

Josh Kalven — Mon, 20 Oct 2008 07:32:40 -0700

Bennett, Petts, & Normington for Progress Illinois. 10/15-16. Likely voters. MoE 4.9%:

Debbie Halvorson (D): 50%
Martin Ozinga (R): 29%
Undecided: 22%

The 11th Congressional District poll conducted for Progress Illinois by the Washington D.C.-based polling firm Bennett, Petts & Normington found a 21-point lead for Democrat Debbie Halvorson, similar to the 19-point gap in the internal poll she released on Friday (which included Green Party candidate Jason Wallace).

Republican Marty Ozinga's unfavorables (30%) continue to outweigh his favorables (20%), which certainly spells trouble. Independents made up 42 percent of the polling universe in our poll and they also appear extremely wary of Ozinga, with only 14 percent saying they support him and 41 percent still on the fence.

While Barack Obama posted an 11-point lead in the district, an identical number of independents remain undecided on the presidential race.

Gov. Rod Blagojevich's numbers mirror those in our 10th District poll, with only 10 percent holding a favorable view of him. Meanwhile, 38 percent of respondents were unaware of the constitutional convention question on the Illinois ballot this year. Of those aware, 29 percent supported the idea of holding a Con-Con and 44 percent opposed it.

More detail below.

Methodology:

This is a telephone survey among 400 registered voters in the 11th Congressional District of Illinois who are likely to vote in the general election in November 2008. The survey was conducted from October 15-16, 2008 by trained, professional interviewers following procedures established by Bennett, Petts & Normington.

All polls are subject to errors caused by interviewing a sample of persons, rather than the entire population. In 95 cases out of 100, the responses to this survey should fall within plus or minus 4.9 percentage points of those that would have been obtained from interviewing the entire population of likely voters in the 11th Congressional District of Illinois. The sampling error for subgroups of the survey will be greater.

The data have been weighted by age and race to better reflect the composition of the electorate.

Partisan breakdown:

Democrats: 33%
Republicans: 25%
Independents: 42%

Head-to-head toplines:

Favorability ratings:

Halvorson
Favorable: 31%
Unfavorable: 17%
Neutral: 16%

Ozinga
Favorable: 20%
Unfavorable: 30%
Neutral: 16%

Obama
Favorable: 55%
Unfavorable: 32%
Neutral: 9%

McCain
Favorable: 47%
Unfavorable: 37%
Neutral: 12%

Blagojevich
Favorable: 10%
Unfavorable: 74%
Neutral: 11%

Presidential numbers:

Barack Obama (D): 49%
John McCain (R): 38%
Undecided: 13%

Issues:

I’m going to read you a list of issues and I want you to tell me which one you think is the MOST IMPORTANT PROBLEM that you would like to see your next representative in Congress do something about?

The economy and jobs ..................................... 45%
The financial crisis ............................................ 17
The war in Iraq .................................................. 8
Gas and energy prices ...................................... 8
Health care ........................................................ 7
Illegal immigration ............................................. 7
Taxes ................................................................. 5
(DON'T KNOW) ................................................. 4

On the constitutional convention, we first asked respondents if they were aware that the question was on the ballot this year:

First, are you aware or not aware that this November voters in Illinois will be asked to decide if we should hold a constitutional convention, for the purpose of preparing a new state constitution?

Aware: 62%
Unaware: 38%

If aware, do you SUPPORT or OPPOSE Illinois holding a constitutional convention?

Support: 29%
Oppose: 44%
Undecided: 27%

Halvorson Releases Poll Showing Her Up By 19

Josh Kalven — Fri, 17 Oct 2008 15:32:14 -0700

This afternoon, 11th District Democratic congressional candidate Debbie Halvorson released a new poll showing her beating Republican Marty Ozinga by a hefty margin. From a campaign statement:

State Senator and Congressional candidate Debbie Halvorson is in a strong position to win the open-seat race to replace retiring Congressman Jerry Weller (R) in Illinois’ 11th Congressional District. Halvorson currently leads her Republican opponent Martin Ozinga by 19 points, 48% to 29%.

The poll was conducted by the Democratic firm Anzalone-Liszt between October 10 and 13. The sample size was 400 with a 4.9 percent margin of error. According the memo circulated by the campaign, Barack Obama led John McCain by two points among respondents.

Cheney, Ozinga, And Health Care

Adam Doster — Thu, 16 Oct 2008 10:39:56 -0700

Using a notorious quote we grabbed from a cable access interview back in July, SouthtownStar columnist Kristen McQueary gets in a good dig at Marty Ozinga the day after Dick Cheney had to cancel a fundraiser with the Republican congressional candidate for health reasons:

Had Cheney's heart problems developed during the course of his Will County visit, rest assured he would have been in good hands. Ozinga could have recommended any number of area emergency rooms. After all, as Ozinga said, health care accessibility isn't a serious problem in this country: "You just go to the hospital, and you get taken care of."

Of course, Cheney is covered by the federal government, a point the California Nurses Association raised in a stinging ad campaign late last year:

The patient’s history and prognosis were grim: four heart attacks, quadruple bypass surgery, angioplasty, an implanted defibrillator and now an emergency procedure to treat an irregular heartbeat,” the ad states, referencing Cheney’s lengthy medical chart. “For millions of Americans, this might be a death sentence. For the vice president, it was just another medical treatment. And it cost him very little.”

CNA exectuive director Rose Ann DeMoro sums it all up: "Take that chart to Blue Cross, UnitedHealth, or Aetna and try to get coverage or even continued care."

"Congressman" Marty Ozinga?!?!

Josh Kalven — Thu, 16 Oct 2008 09:34:47 -0700

What is it with national news outlets assuming that 11th District GOP congressional candidate Marty Ozinga is already in office? First, Politico referred to him as "Rep. Marty Ozinga" back in July. Then yesterday, a CNN anchor called him "Congressman Marty Ozinga" while reporting the news that Vice President Dick Cheney had cancelled a campaign event because of heart problems. Watch it:

Ozinga: "I Still Feel Like I'm Middle Class"

Angela Caputo — Mon, 13 Oct 2008 13:03:31 -0700

With the average voter worried about the stability of their jobs, home values, and retirement accounts, it's no wonder rich candidates are trying to downplay their wealth on the campaign trail. But Republican concrete magnate Marty Ozinga seems to be reaching these days as he tries to convince 11th District voters that he's an average guy of average means.

Appearing with Democrat Debbie Halvorson before the Tribune editorial board two weeks ago, Ozinga said, "I still feel like I'm middle class. I go to work everyday. I live off my weekly paycheck just like everybody else does." Watch it:

While Ozinga certainly does collect a paycheck, it's a far cry from the median Illinois household income, which hovered around $54,000 last year.

As president of Ozinga Bros., the Homer Glen businessman earned $457,000 in 2007 and $256,000 between January 2008 and April 2008, according to his personal financial disclosure filed with the FEC (which also showed him owning $2.4-$3.1 million in assets).

That salary boils down to about a $19,000 bi-monthly paycheck, before taxes. According to the Wall Street Journal's 2007 "Rich-O-Meter," it also puts him in the top 0.5 percent of American wage earners.

In response to his claim at a separate appearance with Halvorson that he runs "a small business," Southern columnist Kurt Erickson took issue with Ozinga's attempt to bill himself as "just a little concrete guy":

Apparently, this is his way of trying to establish his street cred as a regular guy. [...]

It made me wonder: What is a small business?

There's no exact definition, but a general rule-of-thumb is that a small business is any company with 100 or fewer employees. In order to qualify for certain state loans and grants, small business owners in Illinois can't have over 500 workers. On his website, Ozinga says his family-run concrete business has 1,200 employees.

With statements like these, Ozinga is inviting the same "out of touch" label that John McCain brought on himself earlier this year when he defined "rich" as an annual income of $5 million, then couldn't recall exactly how many homes he owns.