Trying to get out in front of the story, are we, Marty?
In his first interview since establishing his GOP candidacy in the 11th Congressional District, Marty Ozinga wasted no time defending the actions of his concrete company. According to a 2005 Chicago Tribune investigation, Ozinga Brothers exploited a City of Chicago affirmative-action program to win lucrative contracts set aside for minority business owners. Today, the Tribune reported Ozinga's response:
“Our efforts with Metro Mix were always completely transparent, on top of the table, done in conjunction with many, many, many discussions of all the government agencies involved,” he said from his new campaign office in Mokena. “And I am—I was then, and I am to this day—proud of all the people who worked hard, put forth so much effort into trying to create a business opportunity that would have been so very beneficial, but that was probably just not meant to be.”
Ozinga said he started Metro Mix as a way to create jobs and promote economic development in minority neighborhoods.
Would the South Side church members he enlisted to help launch Metro Mix agree? From the original Tribune report:
The company’s actions include creating a spinoff concrete firm in the 1980s to win city business reserved exclusively for minority-owned companies. Martin, Richard and James Ozinga–all white men–enlisted the help of two African-American churches in Chicago’s depressed South Side, giving nine church members 51 percent ownership to technically meet the city’s rules.
But two of the African-American church members now say the spinoff company was bogus and that minorities had little control of the business. “It was a classic front,” church member Henry Washington says.
So where does Marty stand on issues important to 11th District residents? The Tribune reports that "he opposes abortion rights, doesn’t believe the U.S. should vacate Iraq before the political system there is stabilized and favors tax deductions and health savings accounts instead of universal health care."
For more on Ozinga's shady business dealings, read our extended post here.
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