‘He knows what our interests are in Washington’: DuPage County to pay D.C. lobbyist up to $96K
DuPage County Board members have agreed to spend up to $96,000 on a one-year contract with a federal lobbyist.
The county will pay Lincoln Park Group $8,000 a month. For the past two years, the “boutique government affairs” firm has worked on the county's behalf in Washington, D.C., as a subcontractor of the McGuireWoods team.
The county board first hired McGuireWoods in 2024 at the same rate. Greg Bales, then the firm’s senior vice president, previously worked for U.S. Sen. Dick Durbin as senior adviser in the Democratic lawmaker’s government office and as Durbin’s campaign manager for his reelection in 2020, according to a McGuireWoods bio.
Bales has left the firm, Dawn DeSart, chairwoman of the county board’s legislative committee, said earlier this month. Lincoln Park Group will now push the county’s agenda under a contract starting Feb. 1.
“He knows what our interests are in Washington,” DeSart said of founder Reilly O’Connor.
He was previously vice president and head of federal affairs and policy at the Wine & Spirits Wholesalers of America. The late Blackhawks owner Rocky Wirtz was a former chairman of the trade organization’s board.
The county uses a D.C. lobbyist, in part, to seek federal dollars through the “community project funding” program — better known as earmarks.
“House members are limited to 15 asks for all of their earmark requests. Senators have much larger leeway,” O’Connor told the legislative committee.
Lincoln Park Group was part of the original team Bales put into place to provide lobbying services in Washington, O’Connor wrote in a letter to DeSart.
He wrote, “Greg and I worked the Illinois delegation offices together: he took the lead with the Senators and we divided up” the House members.
Lincoln Park has also represented another suburban client: The Morton Arboretum.
County board members approved the lobbying contract with no discussion.
Additionally, the county has a pair of firms lobbying state lawmakers. The county will pay Marquardt & Humes Inc. no more than $94,500 for one year of lobbying work through Sept. 14, 2026. The county will also pay Raucci & Sullivan Strategies no more than $52,500 for one year of lobbying services through August 2026.