Smells Like Ginderske

I was looking at the campaign finances for Jim Ginderske's 2007 aldermanic campaign recently and something just didn't smell right. But then, Jim Ginderske exudes the odor of fraudulent misrepentation.

He continues to misrepresent two of his projects, "Neighbors for a Healthy Rogers Park" and "The Urban Coaster" as legitimate organizations, even though the Illinois Secretary of State states flatly that they are not what they claim to be.

When Ginderske was running his ill-fated campaign in Chicago's 49th Ward, I witnessed him receive a $250 check from a local union. It was all very hush-hush. Why? He didn't want it known that a certain individual had sent him the check.

More importantly, the guy who gave him the check didn't want it known. The check was from a local union, and I don't recall the signature on the check. The unions were all very afraid of incumbent tyrant Joe Moore, which is why Ginderske got almost nothing from them. They knew that any donation to Ginderske would show on a D2 reporting form, which would be seen by Moore.

The point here is that Ginderske received a check in the amount of $250 but it seems to be missing on both his Contributions List or his Itemized Contributions List as shown on the Illinois State Board of Elections web site.

Now, I'm not saying that the geniuses in the Ginderske 2007 scout troop did not report that $250 donation. It is possible, I suppose, that Jim Ginderske never even cashed it. Hell, he might even have returned it. I don't know what actually happened to that check, but it seems likely that the cash strapped candidate did cash it.

If that happened, it should be showing on at least one of those ISBE lists. We are right to be suspicious about the Ginderske campaign contributions reporting. After all, it was Ginderske and his campaign chair, Thomas J. Westgard, who were key players in a sham organization last year called "Neighbors for a Healthy Rogers Park" (NHRP).

That venture was dissolved by the Illinois Sec. of State for not properly filing its annual report. As of this writing at 2:00 a.m. on January 13, 2009, the Sec. of State shows NHRP's status as "NOT GOOD STANDING."

Yet Ginderske and his gang continue to pass off NHRP as a legitimate not-for-profit organization. More recently, another venture involving Ginderske and Westgard was never granted incorporation because - oops! - their filing fee check bounced in December, 2008. This venture is called "The Urban Coaster," a web site with a dead-tree version. Ginderske and his gang continue to falsely show themselves as "The Urban Coaster, Inc.," even though they are, in fact, not incorporated in Illinois - not under that name anyway.

As of this writing at 2:29 a.m. on January 13, 2009, the Sec. of State's web site still shows them as not incorporated. The reason stated: "UNACCEPTABLE PAYMENT 12 17 08." (Go here http://www.ilsos.gov/corporatellc/ and search for "The Urban Coaster") Ginderske and Westgard have a demonstrable pattern of not filing official papers properly and of not handling money well. In fact, let's go full circle and return to the Ginderske 2007 campaign.

Seems they screwed up filing then, too. Again we go to the Illinois State Board of Elections, this time to search through "Fines Due and Owing."

There, we find this: 
Ginderske 2007 Imposed Date: 03/26/2007
Balance Due: $500.00
Report: Pre-election
Report Period End Date: 01/28/2007
Reason: 4 DAYS LATE - and -
Imposed Date: 10/25/2007
Balance Due: $2,600.00
Report: Semiannual
Report Period End Date: 06/30/2007
Reason: 52 DAYS LATE

The next aldermanic election will be in 2011. You can bet that Ginderske will run, and is in fact campaigning even now. Front groups such as The Urban Coaster and NHRP are nothing more than attempts to keep his name "out there," to maintain an organization of useful idiots, and ultimately transform those groups into a little campaign army. If Ginderske really wants to project himself as a bumbling idiot who lies about the legal status of his bogus organizations and cannot properly file papers or submit good checks for fee payments, he's doing one hell of a job. If he wants to project himself as a decent man with a good head on his shoulders, he couldn't have chosen a worse strategy.

RELATED: 
Ginderske Violating State Law
Another Sham Ginderske Organization (Updated)
Tom Westgard, Repeat Offender