Wealthy building contractor Marty Ozinga, who is expected to be tapped tonight by 11th district Republican leaders as the ballot replacement for New Lenox Mayor Tim Baldermann, told The Associated Press on Tuesday that he does not plan to self-fund his campaign.

That could be unwelcome news for GOP leaders, who were hoping that Ozinga’s deep pockets would enable him to be competitive on the financial front with the Democratic nominee in the 11th district, state Senate Majority Leader Debbie Halvorson. Halvorson, the clear frontrunner in the race to replace retiring Rep. Jerry Weller (R) at the moment, finished March with $673,000 in the bank.

Ozinga told the AP that he didn’t expect to come close to coughing up the $350,000 that it would take to trigger the “Millionaires’ Amendment” of campaign finance law, which enables opponents of self-funders to up the level of campaign contributions they are allowed to take.

— Josh Kurtz