March 18--Thornton Township has paid more than $611,000 to two firms headed by a communications consultant who has worked with political committees tied to township supervisor Frank Zuccarelli, records show.
Since 2003, Lloyd Betourney and Associates has been paid $338,100 by the township, records show. Betourney's other firm, Public Response Group, has been paid $273,269 since 2005, township records show.
State campaign records show Public Response Group has given at least $27,250 to Friends of Frank Zuccarelli and the Thornton Twp Regular Democratic Org, which is chaired by Zuccarelli.
Public Response Group has also been paid more than $133,000 by those two political committees, according to state records. In an interview, Betourney said most of the campaign payments are reimbursements to his firms for printing costs he fronted and said his donations have been spread out over nearly 15 years.
Zuccarelli is a powerful player in Cook County politics who leads Thornton Township, which includes some of the state's poorest communities. Zuccarelli said political work and contributions have no influence on the amount of township work done by Betourney, or anyone else.
"I just look at how much we made," Zuccarelli said, in reference to fundraisers. "I don't look at any of the individual contributions."
Zuccarelli praised Betourney as a creative consultant who has given the township good advice and has helped its leaders develop effective advertising.
"He's been very helpful to us over the past 15 or so years," Zuccarelli said.
The township said it had no bidding records for the work done by Betourney's firms for the periods for which they released payment records. Asked if he thinks his firms' political work has positively influenced his contracts with the township, Betourney said he "complete(ly) rejects the premise of the question."
"Bottom-line results and real value, I think, is the real reason why people come back to us and quite frankly why the township comes back to us," Betourney said.
Work
Betourney said he first got to know Zuccarelli in the late-90s, after Betourney helped Zuccarelli with a re-election campaign. A couple years later, Zuccarelli approached Betourney about helping with the township's newsletter.
