Entrepreneurs successfully mix business, politics

Gurnee businesswoman Jeanne Balmes didn't like what was going on and decided “I needed to be there. I needed to step up.”

“There” was the Gurnee village board, and Balmes did step up. Then and now owner of Gurnee Flowers by Balmes, Balmes ran for the board in 2001 and was elected. She's still a trustee.

Running for office, Balmes says, “is the responsible thing to do. As a member of the community, you need to be involved. Don't just complain.”

Putting your ideas into the public arena and essentially asking others for approval can be daunting. Balmes, however, isn't the only suburban entrepreneur to get involved. Among the others:

• Ed Plaza, Lake in the Hills village president and a partner in the Woodstock law firm of Michling Hofman Vinton Plaza & Wick. Plaza, who lost his first bid for office in 1997, recommends involvement but is “disillusioned by the amount of apathy. It's hard to get people involved,” Plaza says.

• Tom Morrison, newly elected state representative from the Northwest suburbs' 54th District and partner, with older brother Mark, in an Elk Grove Village SERVPRO franchise. He ran in part because “the majority of legislators have no business experience. They don't understand workers' comp, how taxes affect local businesses or the red tape when you want to start or expand a business.”

• Carl Schultz, DuPage County Forest Preserve District commissioner from the fifth district and owner of Horticultural Consultants, Aurora. “I thought it made sense to have someone on the board who had a background in things related to forest preserves,” Schultz says.

There are costs to public service, beyond the time and dollars spent to get elected. Schultz, for example, “had to change my business model. I spend less time in my business, and I do more consulting and less direct landscaping.”

Morrison notes that the legislative calendar in Springfield “is very active from February through the end of May,” a period when his SERVPRO franchise typically is “not very busy.” Consequently, Morrison is comfortable relying on staff and relationships with other franchisees to “handle what needs to be done” if SERVPRO's disaster cleanup business gets busy while he is away.

“I don't have to be engaged in the business every day.”

There seems to be relatively little spillover, good or bad, from public office to business. Plaza has been a Lake in the Hills trustee since 1999 and mayor since 2001, but, he says, “I'm surprised by how many people don't know (me) in one role or another.”

In conversation, Balmes tends to shrug off the impact of local politics on her business. “Voters either agree or disagree with you. Maybe (some of the debates) have cost me business,” she says. On the other hand, Gurnee voters have re-elected Balmes twice.

• Contact Jim Kendall at JKendall@121Marketing Resources.com.

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