Dupage Policy Journal

Former Addison Township Supervisor Dennis Reboletti said his successor Bobby Hernandez and the township’s new Democratic leadership are creating “a very bad look” for local government by using taxpayer funds to hire a firm with known Democratic ties and a history of campaign consulting. 

Reboletti's comments follow the township board's approval of hiring Veritas Strategies as part of Hernandez’s transition team—a move he calls “a total waste" of tax dollars.  

The firm’s contract and duties were not publicly disclosed at the time of its approval during a May 29 meeting, prompting an open records request from the DuPage Policy Journal. 

Reboletti, who served as township supervisor for eight years before being unseated by Hernandez in the April election, said the decision to bring in Veritas was both unnecessary and unethical.

“To me, a total waste of taxpayer money, they have to bring in a quote-unquote consultant to do the job that the current supervisor was elected to do,” Reboletti told DuPage Policy Journal.

“There is no transparency there as far as a contract to help run the township. There's absolutely no reason for it,” he said. “The employees that worked with me for the last eight years are all long-time, tenured employees, well aware of the needs of the diverse communities and provided the best service that was available to the residents.” 

The Veritas hire follows a major political shift in Addison Township, where Democrats swept every major office in the April 1 municipal elections, flipping the longtime Republican stronghold.

Hernandez’s victory over Reboletti, secured by a large margin of mail-in ballots, was part of a broader “blue wave” across DuPage County. 

Reboletti said Hernandez inherited a township in strong financial health and with multiple ongoing projects, disputing claims that outside consultants were necessary to stabilize operations.

“The township was in the black. We received a number of grants to complete several projects, including renovating a building that is about 80 years old to house a top food pantry, bring the Secretary of State's office in, and run veterans programs,” he said. “So he walked into a circumstance that is plug-and-play, and he’s unable to do either one.”

Reboletti further called into question Hernandez’s handling of the budget and dismissed claims that he left the township’s finances in poor condition.

“A couple of things,” Reboletti said. “One, they never passed the budget. They have a continuing resolution. Does that sound like what we do in Washington, D.C.? Yet, ‘they’re going to put together a budget.’ And number two, Bobby blames me for the reason he had to hire a consultant, saying I left the project in dire straits. That is absolutely false.” 

Reboletti also took issue with the lack of transparency around the Veritas agreement and noted a broader concern over the direction the township may now take under Democratic control.

“By hiring people and not sharing the actual information about the cost, I think it is disingenuous to the residents of Addison Township,” he said.

One of Reboletti’s more pointed criticisms was directed at the Veritas team itself, particularly Bill Velazquez. 

Velazquez was once chief of staff to Rep. Jesus ‘Chuy’ Garcia, but resigned after a New York Times story revealed he dismissed a sexual harassment complaint during his time on Bernie Sanders’ 2016 presidential campaign. The female staffer who raised the complaint said Velazquez “laughed” when she reported being harassed by a surrogate. Garcia accepted the resignation, stating that the controversy had become a distraction from congressional work.  

“Having to go out to contract with somebody who had absolutely no knowledge of Addison Township, who's not from Addison Township, and that's from Chuy Garcia's political organization, leaves a lot to be desired,” he said. 

The Veritas hiring has prompted reaction across the DuPage County GOP. Kevin Coyne, chair of the county Republican Party, said the move reflects a disturbing trend of using public funds for political payback.

“Clearly, it's wrong to pay your political consultants with taxpayer dollars,” Coyne previously told the DuPage Policy Journal. “It's shocking to us that they would do something so brazen.” 

Hernandez has not publicly disclosed the terms of Veritas’s engagement or responded in detail to those in opposition of it. 

The firm’s name was omitted from the board meeting agenda, and no scope of work has been shared without a formal records request. Velazquez, Veritas’s registered agent, has also not commented.

As for his own future, Reboletti says he’s focused on his law practice after eight years of public service as Addison Township Supervisor and before that as state representative.

“We worked at something for eight years; you want to see whoever takes it over succeed, and the first thing they do is bring in a bunch of people from Cook County to run Addison Township,” Reboletti said. “It doesn’t matter if it’s a Democrat or a Republican, it's a very bad look.”