Susan DeMar Lafferty
Daily Southtown
April 20, 2018, 9:35 am
Former Joliet City Councilman Tim Brophy has become the Democrat’s candidate to try to unseat Will County Treasurer Steve Weber, a Mokena Republican, in the November general election.
Brophy was nominated at the Will County Democratic Central Committee’s convention April 18.
No candidate filed to run in the Democratic primary for this seat, and it was the only county-wide office in which the Democrats lacked a candidate.
According to state statute, the local party committee may nominate a candidate to fill this vacancy. Precinct committeemen will now help Brophy get the required 1,202 signatures on a nominating petition which must be filed with the Will County Clerk by June 4.
Brophy, who said he considered the post sooner, but thought there would be another candidate, said “public service is in my bones.”
“I wanted to make sure we had a full team running in fall. It might stimulate people to pay attention,” he said.
A Joliet native, and a graduate of Joliet Catholic High School, Illinois Wesleyan University and the University of Chicago Graduate School of Business, Brophy served on the Joliet City Council from 1995 to 2011, where he was chairman of the finance committee.
He works as the associate executive director for the North American Spine Society and as a licensed real estate Broker for Dow Realty, Inc. in Joliet.
He also serves as president of the Will County Habitat for Humanity, president of the Irish American Society of County Will, treasurer of the Manhattan Irish Fest Committee, and as a member of the Joliet Arsenal Development Authority.
Brophy said he would give up his current job and be a full-time treasurer.
“This is supposed to be a full-time job,” he said of the treasurer’s post.
In a telephone interview following his nomination, the candidate said he has “no specific goals” for the treasurer’s office.
He would like to conduct programs to educate people about the make-up of their tax bill.
“Most people don’t understand who they pay taxes to,” he said.
“Much of the job is maintaining the work that is laid out,” he said. The office is responsible for collecting and distributing property taxes, handling short-term investments, managing projects and a staff, he said.
It’s a “management role” and “something I am very comfortable with,” he said.
Brophy also believes every incumbent should be “tested” by the voting public.
“No one owns the seat,” he said.
Tax collections have decreased and he wants to find out why.
“By being there full time, and analyzing this, maybe there is something we can do,” he said.
The treasurer has posted annual reports on his website, but the most recent one is from 2013, said Brophy, adding, “I guess I could do better.”