Dupage Policy Journal

The same Roger Orozco who demonized state Rep. Deb Conroy (D-Villa Park) when he ran in the Republican primary for her 4th District House seat recently appeared on her campaign Facebook page endorsing her.

The September 10 post contains a photo of Orozco and Conroy – his arm around her shoulders – with a statement from her thanking Orozco for his endorsement. In the post, Conroy also criticized her Republican opponent, Dr. Gordon “Jay” Kinzler (Glen Ellyn), who defeated Orozco handily in the primary, for being endorsed by conservatives.

Kinzler said he couldn’t imagine why Orozco would pull a 180 on Conroy.

Jay Kinzler

“He was harder on her than I was during the primary,” Kinzler told the DuPage Policy Journal. “Now he’s backing her, someone who is at least partly responsible for the massive out migration in this state with her votes for higher taxes and allegiance to Madigan (Democratic House Speaker Michael Madigan).”

A former Marine and now detective with the Schiller Park police, Orozco was endorsed in the primary by the House Republican Organization (HRO), the political arm of the House Republican Caucus.

Neither he nor the HRO returned calls seeking comment on his political about-face.

Orozco called Conroy a “career politician” and someone who took her constituents for granted when he announced his candidacy for the Republican primary in September 2017.

“Deb Conroy has supported partisan gridlock which has created the mess Illinois finds itself in today,” he said in a statement. “I can no longer sit on the sidelines and watch my state representative vote for Madigan budgets, tax hikes and Chicago bailouts.”

Kinzler said that after the primary he reached out to Orozco, but never received a return call.

“I admire him for his service in the Marines and as a first responder,” Kinzler said. “I’m a colonel in the Army Reserve and I wanted to see if we could work together.”

A transplant specialist, Kinzler is past chairman of the Department of Surgery at Elmhurst Memorial Hospital and past president of the medical staff at Elmhurst Memorial Healthcare

He also served as president of the Glen Ellyn Park District board.

“We operated in a surplus, and we returned the surplus to the taxpayers where it belongs," he said of his time on the board.

In a December 2017 statement, the board said that the average tax bill for a resident of the Glen Ellyn Park District dropped by an average of 10.2 percent on the park-district portion of their 2016 tax bill (payable in 2017) and was estimated to decrease an additional 22 percent on their 2017 tax bill (payable in 2018).

The 46th District includes all or parts of Addison, Bloomingdale, Carol Stream, Elmhurst, Glendale Heights, Oakbrook Terrace and Villa Park.