Del Mar Accused of Threats in Cook County GOP Power Grab
Leaked Election Results Reveal Chaos, Allegations in Battle for Party Chair
Edison Park. Just before sunset. Moretti's Pizza. The second floor. An elevator opens.
The Cook County Republican Chair election is about to take place.
The hallway is well-lit with fluorescent lights.
The Cook County Republican committeemen scatter across the island bar, the adjoining pizza buffet, and the dark private room, where they will eventually hold the election.
Many of the committeemen, dressed in mismatched clothing—jeans with suit jackets or a loose blue polo with khaki shorts and a dangling carabiner—seem to defy the traditional image of political insiders in the U.S.'s second-richest county.
Other elected Committee men are wearing misfitted business atire and look like they're taking their uncomfortably younger date to Carlucci's Steakhouse.
Some of the committeemen, seemingly plucked from the nearest bus stop, are wearing 5 XL light gray T-shirts with butter stains and chew marks and sweatpants.
Republican committeemen are supposed to be the highest-powered elected Republicans or wealthy donors in the region, but at this moment, the Cook County Committeemen looked like they were filming an episode of To Catch a Predator.
Illinois Record exclusive photos of the Cook county GOP Chair election
The private room is watched by a level five security guard, as is the entrance to the pizza buffet.
The presence of additional security personnel, possibly including a third military or police-trained professional, suggests shame and tension surrounding the election.
The Cook County GOP may have spent its entire bank account ($5,075.14) on security, room rental, and pizza, seemingly setting up the next chair for failure.
Illinois Sunshine/ Cook County Republican’s current finance
The past president, Sean Morrison, is apparently in the back of the private room, and Aaron Del Mar is in the hallway, sweating in a suit jacket, making small talk with attendees.
Illinois Record Exclusive
A local reporter asked Del Mar what he thought of his chances, and Del Mar rapidly flared his nostrils and spoke with extreme confidence while bumbling and making up new words. Del Mar said he expected a "Livacious night," was "consciously optimistic" about his chances of winning the election, and offered to buy the reporter a drink after the meeting.
Aaron's sweating and jitteriness may have had some other cause, as he was the odds-on favorite to replace his mentor and godfather to his kids, Sean Morrison, who infamously wrote a letter to a judge demanding leniency for a pedophile who molested a young girl at Morrison's pool party.
Several committeemen said they got aggressive campaign calls the weekend before Morrison stepped down. Del Mar pushed for a unanimous win to lock in his fourth political title.
Others said they were promised positions like secretary.
New Trier’s Julie Cho publicly accused Aaron of threatening four committeemen for their vote
Although Cho has not named names of the four committeemen claiming to be voters, fake Dr. Eric Wallace is a likely candidate.
Wallace, who is comically insistent on being called "doctor," got a doctorate in "Bible studies" at the progressive theology college, Union-PSCE, and eventually voted for Aaron.
Illinois Review/ fake Doctor Eric Wallace was supported by Todd Ricketts when he ran against Sean Morrison for cook county GOP chair.
Wallace's support does not make sense on face value, considering Wallace ran for Cook County chair last time as the opposition to Sean Morrison in the previous election. Wallace, who professes to be Christian, would not likely genuinely support someone who still operates poker games for a living and used to manage "Chicago tryst.com" and "soulraper.com.
Illinois Record/ Archived photos of Aaron Del Mar’s “soulraper” business.
When it was time to vote, security—and a committeeman in a district that votes 90% Democrat, along with a former township highway commissioner cosplaying as security—kicked out all the observers who had joined at tables on the first floor of Moretti's Pizzeria.
Notably, serial candidate Bob Fioretti made rounds at the table talking to other aspiring candidates and republican voters.
Illinois Record Exclusive picture of Bob Fioretti at the Cook county GOP chair election.
Fioretti is pleasant, but at this age, he looks like a petrified Barry Manilow—but instead of being forced to lip-sync "Copacabana" in Branson, Missouri, he lifelessly recycles bland neoconservative talking points.
Fioretti, a former Democrat alderman, reminds us of the ineffective but suspiciously profitable playbook of rebranding past-their-prime Illinois Democrats as Republican candidates against nationally unpopular Democrats such as Toni Preckwinkle or Kim Foxx. These races garner a lot of media attention that can fuel serious donations, but they often run on safe, vague, uninspiring messages and have no chance of winning in the first place.
Although the Illinois Record was not in the private room, we were on the first floor and had sources.
Foreshadowing the shamefulness of the vote, 22 committeemen did not show up (including Calumet, Chicago Wards 1, 11, 12, 13, 14, 17, 25, 34—all of whom haven't bothered to have a Republican committeeman).
Of the 58 remaining, a majority voted absentee or sent in a representative, leaving plenty of pizza for the mostly unhealthy-looking Cook County Republican committeemen.
Aaron Del Mar, who routinely abuses political rules, sent his business partner and political ally, Cook County Young Republican Eric Angerer, as his representative despite being in the room himself.
Angerer ditched his signature Bluetooth earpiece for a polo and sneakers—standard uniform for a loyal foot soldier.
Facebook/ Eric Angerer with his trademark blue tooth headphone
Illinois Record exposed Angerer’s incel-tier and German nationalist social media posts, but Del Mar still hands him the keys to Palatine GOP’s online presence—and sends him out to represent the township in public.
Facebook/ One of several immature posts on Cook County Young Republican chair Eric Angerer’s facebook. Illinois record story here.
Wheeling Supervisor Kathy Penner sent Dan Patlak, a 15-year Cook County bureaucrat, as her representative.
Facebook/ Dan Patlak
Back in February, Illinois Record predicted Penner would face backlash from Wheeling Democrats if she failed to block Michelle Hunter from getting on the Arlington Heights trustee ballot—Arlington Heights lies within Wheeling Township.
As expected, Penner was challenged by a Democrat who easily beat her in a township with a 20% Democratic advantage.
Cook County Clerk, 2025 election results
This outcome underscores Illinois Record’s broader thesis: an insurgent Republican Party in Illinois propped up by taxpayer-funded township jobs and other financial, sexual, and drug-related perks. Meanwhile, Penner’s fellow Republicans in Wheeling, Joanna Guaza and Ken Jochum, faced no opposition and will keep collecting taxpayer dollars under the guise of "Republicanism."
Patlak, who famously wore an oversized plastic name tag at events during his time on the Cook County Board of Review, now works for the dark-money group Illinois Policy, tasked with recruiting new candidates.
Facebook/ Dan Patlak with his oversized plastic name tag.
It’s a strange role for Patlak, whose charm is about as inviting as a tow truck driver specializing in parking lots at a children’s hospital.
The candidates Patlak recruits also tend to lack charm, Republican beliefs, experience, and passion for running for office. Therefore, they tend not only to lose elections but also not to advance the message.
Tim Rueckert represented pro-Trump impeachment, Northfield GOP chair, TJ Brown.
Facebook/ TJ Brown
The outgoing Northfield highway commissioner, Rueckert, once told the author of this post that a political operative offered him to get all the votes from a nursing home in exchange for 2,500. Ruekert claims to have declined, but after seeing the excess pizza and private room with friends, we wonder if he regretted the decision.
The vote was as follows:
Illinois Record exclusively obtained leaked election results
Del Mar, perhaps watching too many gangster movies, made his first move as chair by cutting a cheesy, low-end promotional video, writing a press release disguised as an article, and firing at least six committeemen who did not support him.
Illinois Record exclusive/ Del Mar fires Mark Albers, a committeeman who voted against him.
Facebook/ Aaron Del Mar releases a promo video on first day of office, calling for more mail in voting.
Del Mar argues that he only fired "appointed committeemen," but his argument rings hollow when considering that Del Mar did not fire liberal Republican appointed Committeeman Steve Boulton. Boulton was kicked off the ballot at the last election after the Ivy League-educated lawyer submitted fraudulent petitioning papers.
Illinois Record/ Steve Boulton (left) holds glass of wine and capitulates
There is a rumor that Boulton talked to himself at Gibson's bar while drinking 25-dollar alcoholic drinks. Technically, anytime Boulton talks, it evolves into Boulton talking to himself, who possesses the lawyerly ability to stretch out sentences. The fact that Boulton is still a Republican committee member is another reminder that Del prefers loyalty over representing Republicans well or winning elections.
The New Trier Township Chair, Julie Cho, wrote a response alleging that Del Mar threatened at least four people to vote for him. Read Cho’s letter below:
The Illinois Record is aware that Del Mar offered deals in addition to alleged threats and yelling and started campaigning for the position the weekend before disgraced outgoing Chair Sean Morrison stepped down.
George Ballis deserves credit for running an honest, thoughtful campaign in the face of bullying from Del Mar and his conduits, suspended lawyer Tom DeVore.
Tom DeVore, who supports abortion and has criticized President Trump, accused staunch conservative Ballis of being a Democrat and unqualified for the position.
The Illinois Record’s story on bald shampoo salesman, bully and suspended lawyer Tom Devore
When in reality, the Cook County committeemen encouraged all of their members to vote in a Democrat primary to "support the weaker Democrat" that would face the strong Republican candidate who was running unopposed.
Ballis, disgusted by the process and his peers, resigned. The Illinois Record truly hopes this is not the end of Ballis. In a Republican Party void of courage and common sense, Ballis would be a great addition.
George Ballis writes a resignation letter below:
In the present, the Cook County GOP is at its weakest electoral point since before the creation of the original Illinois Record, an anti-racism, pro-freedom Republican newspaper published in 1897.
The first volume of the original Illinois record
Even if we do not adjust for inflation, the Cook County Republican Party has never had so little money.
When we last reported, the party had enough money for a Vespa. Now, we wonder if the Cook County GOP has enough cash for popcorn and a movie ticket.
The Illinois Record is optimistic that the blatant corruption and creepiness will inspire fed-up Cook County Republican residents to run for Committeeman. If you live in suburban Cook County and have basic decency and an interest in improving the Republican Party, do not hesitate to reach out.
In the meantime, the Illinois Record will continue to cover the Cook County committeemen most in need of resignation or replacement. Stay tuned.
I would bet most anything that the “security” people there worked for Sean Morrison’s security firm, the same firm that employed at least one pedophile. Morrison has been using his own little goon squad for years to intimidate the peasants and to ensure he keeps his multiple titles.