Follow the money? City Council members on both sides of Barber-Colman vote have labor support

By Kevin Haas
Rock River Current
Get our mobile app

ROCKFORD — Aldermen on both sides of a debate over whether to mandate a deal with organized labor in order for the Barber-Colman redevelopment to move forward share common ground at election time: They get their biggest chunks of campaign cash from labor groups.

Our analysis of the 25 largest campaign contributions for each City Council member shows union organizations make up at least two-thirds of that funding for every Democratic alderperson who reported contributions in the last election cycle. Republicans on the council receive union money, too, although none make up more than 20% of the cash from their top 25 contributions.

However, campaign contributions were not an indicator of the final 7-6 vote in favor of a project labor agreement. Council members with union groups as a key donor voted both for and against the labor deal. The development is now on hold indefinitely after City Hall warned the labor agreement could kill the overall redevelopment deal.

“In a general sense, do we know that sometimes political decisions are made based on campaign contributions? The answer to that is an emphatic yes,” said Scot Schraufnage, a political science professor at Northern Illinois University. “We can always find evidence of that.”

More news: Belvidere primed for new downtown train station after Metra selected as passenger rail provider

However, Schraunfnage said campaign contributions more frequently influence under-the-radar decisions, rather than hot topics in the public spotlight like Monday’s vote.

“When it becomes a big topic, it’s a little bit harder for people to go against their conscious, and it’s harder for you or as an investigator to follow the money,” he said. “Now there are competing pressures and it won’t be a straightforward story.”

Alderwoman Gabrielle Torina put the issue in the spotlight on the council floor Monday when she noted — without mentioning the aldermen by name — that Jonathan Logemann and Mark Bonne both receive the vast majority of their funding from various labor and other union groups. Logemann and Bonne put forward the labor requirement for discussion and advocated for its passage.

She, too, benefits from labor’s support at election time, with nearly 80% of the cash from her top 25 donations coming from various labor groups. She said that support won’t influence her vote.

“Since I have accepted money from labor, it isn’t in my ethical purview to take money from them and in exchange vote on an agreement that is solely in their interests and potentially disadvantages any non-union minority contractors that may reside in my ward,” Torina said. “To be placed in this position is preposterous in nature, and it’s no coincidence that those who brought forth the PLA were funded almost entirely by the unions.”

More news: Here’s the new retailer moving in between Office Max and Dick’s Sporting Goods in Rockford

Our analysis, which used data from the Reform for Illinois Sunshine Database and the Illinois State Board of Elections campaign disclosures, focused only on the 25 largest donations reported. We took into account donations from all 14 aldermen and Mayor Tom McNamara from all union organizations, ranging from labor and building trades groups to firefighters, teachers and other public employee unions.

Three aldermen — Aprel Prunty and the recently appointed Isidro Barrios and Jeff Bailey — had no contributions to report. Alderwomen Karen Hoffman had only $1,000 donated by the Citizens to Elect Jonathan Logemann, the alderman who also ran two years ago for the 17th Congressional District. Republicans Tim Durkee and Frank Beach were the only members who had no labor money in their top 25 donations.

Logemann, who brought forward an amendment to mandate a project labor agreement that is “acceptable to the Northwestern Illinois Building Trades Union,” had cash from various union groups make up 77% of the nearly $47,000 he received from his 25 largest contributors. That percentage is even higher, at roughly 92%, when you factor out money he contributed to his own campaign.

Logemann’s union support, however, runs back much further than his campaigns for office or his first donation received. He’s a third-generation union member and the son of two union members. He talked about his long family roots in unions on the council floor Monday as he advocated in favor of mandating a project labor agreement as part of the Barber-Colman deal. He said unions are an important part of protecting economic equality and the sake of our democracy.

“At our dinner tables we would talk about the importance of unionism,” he said. “I’ve participated in strikes; they’re not fun. I’ve been involved in high-stakes negotiations. I’ve been in pickets defending my union brothers and sisters. I am so proud to be a union member.”

More news: Forced to move as part of flood relief, Rockford shoe repair business finds new home in Loves Park

Bonne had roughly 75% of the $26,900 in cash he took in from his top 25 donors come from union organizations such as pipefitters, electrical workers, public employees, laborers and the building trades. Ten of his top 12 donors were union groups, but he also had multiple smaller donations from residents, law firms, Realtors and other companies in his top 25.

“It was a conscious effort on my part two years ago to have that diversity among my contributors, so that I didn’t feel I had one constituency that drove everything,” Bonne said in an interview with the Rock River Current.

He said he doesn’t make his decisions based on campaign contributions. Instead, he was choosing to side with local workers rather than J. Jeffers & Co., a historic redevelopment group based in Milwaukee. He said residents in south Rockford will greatly benefit from the redevelopment, but he wanted to ensure local trades benefit, too.

“The building trades represent families who live in my ward and earn their paychecks, and live in all of our wards and earn their paychecks,” Bonne said. “We don’t all represent the southwest quadrant where the benefit will be the greatest, but we do all represent the workers who work in the building trades.”

Alderman Bill Rose, a Democrat, said the project labor agreement was a “political” move because such a mandate has never before been required as part of a city redevelopment agreement. He said the PLA should be left to be negotiated between labor and the developer. His decision put him at odds with some of his biggest supporters. Nearly 84% of campaign cash from his top 25 donors comes from union groups.

“It’s never about money,” Rose said in an interview after the vote. “I drive southwest Rockford. … It looks like war-torn Ukraine down there. How much longer are we going to expect citizens down in southwest Rockford to be OK with that?”

McNamara, who advocated for the redevelopment without mandating a PLA, gets hundreds of thousands of dollars from union organizations. It made up about 77% of the nearly $525,000 raised from his top 25 donations.

More news: Tradeswomen to hold day of action to help beautify Beyer Stadium in Rockford

Alderman Chad Tuneberg, a Republican who received about 20% of his top donations from union groups, dismissed the claim that money was behind his colleagues votes.

“It’s an unfounded accusation to create division, to create divide, to create angst,” Tuneberg said.

Torina, who represents the 5th Ward where Barber-Colman is located, has been the most vocal advocate for the project. She said aldermen needed to vote down the labor agreement in order to allow for the best path for the project to succeed. She said that should not be construed as a vote against labor, but in favor of a project that will lift up the south side and benefit the entire city.

“I have acknowledged that I have received your support, but as an alderman it is my responsibility to make decisions that position Rockford for long-term success, not just to acquiesce to the demands of people who think they deserve every piece of the pie,” Torina said of organized labor on the council floor. “Two things can be true at the same time. I can be supportive of the trades, and I can also be critical of them.”

How they voted on the PLA

Here’s how aldermen voted on the requirement of a Project Labor Agreement to be included in the redevelopment deal for Barber-Colman.

For PLA: Jonathan Logemann, Chad Tuneberg, Karen Hoffman, Mark Bonne, Kevin Frost, Frank Beach, Isidro Barrios

Against PLA: Aprel Prunty, Bill Rose, Jeff Bailey, Gabrielle Torina, Tim Durkee, Gina Meeks

Absent: Janessa Wilkins

This article is by Kevin Haas. Email him at khaas@rockrivercurrent.com or follow him on Twitter at @KevinMHaas or Instagram @thekevinhaas and Threads @thekevinhaas