Click link below: "Chicago Sun-Times" to read the article.

Candidate's tax return tells interesting tale
Release is step in his race to be next Illinois governor 
By: Mark Brown
June 30, 2009

Adam Andrzejewski, an announced Republican candidate for governor, sent out a press release Monday to inform everyone that he had made public his income tax returns in the interest of transparency.

My first thought was "Adam who?"

But then I decided that if Andrzejewski was taking this campaign seriously enough to release his tax returns, then I could at least take him seriously enough to look them over.

And that's when I noticed Andrzejewski had filed this year for a federal tax refund of $632,110, plus a state refund of $51,579.

Those are nice refunds. Even for a Republican. Can't say as I'd ever seen one like that.

Now I really wanted to know "Adam who?"

So first things first. It's pronounced AND-gee-ef-skee. No need to trip over the R.

He's 39 and lives in Hinsdale with wife Kerry and three daughters. This is his first run for public office.

Up until a couple years ago, Andrzejewski and his brother Abram operated a yellow pages publishing business, HomePages LLC, which they grew from a startup operating out of their own apartments until it produced 135 hometown phone books for small communities in Illinois, Wisconsin and Indiana.

Then they sold out to a venture capital firm and apparently made big bucks in the process.

Andrzejewski, whom I reached by telephone on his way to the Chicago Young Republicans' "Rock the Vote" event at the Cubby Bear, said his non-disclosure agreement prevents him from divulging exactly how much he received in the deal.

But suffice to say, his tax bite was so big on his 2007 tax return that he was required to make large quarterly anticipated tax payments for 2008.

Altogether, he'd paid $684,531, nearly all of which was owed back to him when his income fell off precipitously from the previous year, leaving him with an adjusted gross of just $289,034 and a federal tax bill of only $29,773.

In addition to his $632,110 refund, Andrzejewski let the IRS keep another $23,000 for next year's taxes.

Before going any further, let me just say that Andrzejewski (he's going to need a nickname) does not deserve to be punished for his success or for his willingness to expose his personal finances to public scrutiny, just because I have a voyeuristic interest.

In fact, I think he's on the right track. Andrzejewski wants all political candidates in Illinois to be required to make public their tax returns as a first step toward cleaning up our government.

Some of you may recall I've advocated the same thing, although I'd never considered going as far as Andrzejewski, who would even extend the requirement to local school board candidates.

"We're going to take Illinois from last in ethics to first in ethics," said Andrzejewski, who wants such information about sources of personal income posted online. He predicts "mass resignations" from government if that were to become law.

As a novice, Andrzejewski isn't being taken very seriously by the political establishment, although those tax returns might get their attention, too. The other politicians might note that he and his wife reported $122,142 in tax-exempt interest alone last year, which means he's sitting on a good chunk of change, even after taking his lumps in the stock market. Andrzejewski says the stock portfolio is in his wife's name.

After leaving the phone book business, Andrzejewski started his own nonprofit group, forthegoodofillinois.org, dedicated to making government more accountable. He says he took no salary and has since quit to devote full time to his campaign.

"I'm going to put every dime online in real time," says Andrzejewski, which is the slogan he has adopted. It means he would make all the state's financial information available to the public via computer. When coupled with forensic audits of state finances, he thinks this would enable him to balance the budget without a tax increase. As I've said, I don't think it's that easy.

Andrzejewski describes himself as a political conservative who wants to bring the Reagan revolution to Illinois.

Andrzejewski grew up in Herscher in Kankakee County, where his father ran and lost a campaign for state representative in 1978 against a guy named George Ryan. Yes, that was the same George Ryan who would become the disgraced governor of Illinois.

I forgot to ask Andrzejewski what he plans to do with his tax refund. It ought to be enough for a few campaign commercials.