I've been tweeting a lot of interesting updates from recent disclosures and I thought I'd do a weekly roundup to try to summarize the week's interesting news and organize these developments into a format you can follow. Here is last week's roundup.
- A-1 reports are for contributions received by the committee of $1,000 or more.
- B-1 reports are for independent expenditures made independent of the candidate (cannot be coordinated).
- Regular expenditures (not independent expenditures) are not reported until the quarterly filings are due, next on 3/31.
What follows is not every development in each of these races, only the big and/or notable ones. For comprehensive coverage of all the campaign finance data subscribe to either or both of our Racing Forms, updated weekly. The Illinois Racing Form covers all the General Assembly races, the Cook County Racing Form covers all the county candidates, MWRD, judges and committeemen races.
Yeah, I see the typo. It's Friday, I'm leaving it.
— IL Election Data (@ILElectionData) February 19, 2016
It was a long week, over 100 tweets to summarize, let's get to it.
- On Tuesday IllinoisGO filed a new B-1 for $78K for TV and mail opposing Juliana Stratton.
- On Tuesday Juliana Stratton added $119K including $50K from the Operating Engineers Local 399, $40K from SEIU Illinois Council & $25K from the Illinois Pipe Trades. On Wednesday she added another $42K, including a small in-kind for phone banking from the 42nd Ward Democratic Organization.
- Last Friday the National Association of REALTORS filed a B-1 for $12K for mail supporting Chris Welch.
- Illinois United for Change, the independent expenditure committee funded largely with Blair Hull money that has been supporting Jason Gonzales had an eventful week. Last Friday they added $10K, on Tuesday they reported another $50K from real estate executive Irvin Kessler and on Thursday they reported receiving $20K from the Illinois Opportunity Project the same group led by Dan Proft that gave Ken Dunkin a record $500K contribution earlier this month. They also continued to spend money this week, on Tuesday filing a B-1 for $25K for field, Wednesday filing a B-1 for $15K for printing and Thursday filing a B-1 for another $15K for printing, all supporting Jason Gonzales.
- On Thursday Jason Gonzales added $10,800.
- Worth noting: the four funds controlled by Speaker Madigan have an estimated funds available of around $8.5 million.
- Interesting thought: Illinois United for Change has already spent almost $85K supporting Gonzales/opposing Madigan. If they spend more than $100K then the contribution limits would be removed for this race meaning the Speaker's candidate committee Friends of Michael J. Madigan could raise unlimited funds, something that could have a very significant impact not only for this race but also for the fall. So far Illinois United for Change has raised $300K and spent only about $85K on independent expenditures, they could have as much as $215K still available to spend on this race or others. If/when they exceed the threshold and blow the caps the impact would be far reaching and potentially enormous, I'll have much more on this if/when it happens.
- On Sunday Christian Mitchell added $25K from Democratic Majority, the leadership committee of the House Dems. Both Mitchell and Jay Travis added other smaller amounts during the week.
- On Thursday Chicagoans United for Economic Security PAC, an independent expenditure committee that has received significant funds from CTU filed a B-1 for $160K for cable TV and mail supporting Jay Travis.
- Last Friday the National Association of REALTORS filed a B-1 for $10K for mail supporting Jaime Andrade.
- On Tuesday Liberty Principles filed a new B-1 for $2K for TV for Allen Skillicorn.
- Democratic Majority, the leadership fund of the House Democrats, continues to make independent expenditures opposing Katelyn Hotle, including for $4K for postage last Friday. On Monday they spent another $2K on printing. On Tuesday they spent another $4K on postage.
- On Thursday Mike Halpin added $15K from the Laborers.
- On Tuesday Liberty Principles filed a new B-1 for $4K for graphic design for Brandi McGuire.
- On Tuesday Liberty Principles filed a new B-1 for $9K for TV for Mike DeSutter.
- Last Friday the Illinois Republican Party filed another B-1 spending $16K on mail for Avery Bourne. On Tuesday the Illinois Republican Party filed a new B-1 for $2K for live calls for Bourne.
- On Tuesday INCS Action Independent Committee filed a B-1 for $5K for mail supporting Avery Bourne.
- Last Friday the Illinois Republican Party filed another B-1 spending $5K on mail for Sara Wojcicki Jimenez. On Tuesday the Illinois Republican Party filed a new B-1 for $2K for live calls for Wojcicki Jimenez.
- Last Friday Brad Halbrook disclosed a $53K contribution from Governor Rauner's campaign committee.
- On Monday Liberty Principles filed a new B-1 for $24K for TV for Brad Halbrook. On Tuesday Liberty Principles filed a new B-1 for $2K for TV for Brad Halbrook. On Thursday Liberty Principles filed a new B-1 for $41K for TV supporting Brad Halbrook.
- On Tuesday Jim Acklin filed an A-1 for $40K, including four identical contributions from the IEA all on 2/22, all for $5K. On Wednesday Acklin filed another A-1 for $32K, including six identical contributions from the IEA all on 2/23, all for $5K. It's hard to tell if those are a bunch of accidental duplicates or if that is just an atypical contribution/disclosure method.
- On Thursday Randy Peterson filed an A-1 for $15K from current 102nd district Republican incumbent Adam Brown.
- On Friday Governor Rauner's campaign committee made its first direct contribution to a candidate in 2016, donating $53K to Reggie Phillips. Less than a week later Phillips announced he would be donating the money to charity after facing some criticism for the contribution. He later clarified that he is still happy to have the Governor's support.
- On Monday Liberty Principles filed a new B-1 for $2K for radio for Reggie Phillips. On Tuesday Liberty Principles filed a new B-1 for $8K for graphic desgin for Reggie Phillips. On Thursday Liberty Principles filed a new B-1 for $17K for TV supporting Reggie Phillips.
- On Tuesday IllinoisGO filed a new B-1 for $12K for mail supporting Angelica Alfaro. On Thursday IllinoisGO filed a new B-1 for $12K for mail supporting Angelica Alfaro.
- The Illinois Senate Democratic Victory Fund, the leadership committee of President Cullerton has had a history of supporting their incumbents facing primaries and has been supporting Van Pelt this cycle. Last Friday she filed an A-1 for an in-kind contribution from the Victory Fund for $18K paid to their pollster for "RENT" but was probably for polling. Later on Friday she filed another A-1 for $50K including $30K from the Illinois Senate Democratic Victory Fund. Then on Saturday she filed another A-1 once again for an in-kind contribution from the Victory Fund for $18K paid to their pollster for "RESEARCH" (polling), which was likely just a correction of the A-1 filed the day before, however Van Pelt has not filed a letter with the State Board indicating such.
- On Tuesday IllinoisGO filed a new B-1 for $17K for mail supporting Patricia Van Pelt. On Thursday IllinoisGO filed a new B-1 for $17K for mail supporting Patricia Van Pelt.
- On Monday Liberty Principles filed a new B-1 for $49K for TV for Dan McConchie. This $49K for McConchie put the total Liberty Principles spending for this race over the $100K threshold and the contribution limits have been removed. On Tuesday Liberty Principles filed a new B-1 for $2K for TV for Dan McConchie.
- On Wednesday Dan McConchie filed an A-1 which included a $2,500 contribution from Chicago Bears owner Virginia McCaskey, notable because one of McConchie's opponents is Casey Urlacher, brother of Chicago Bears great Brian Urlacher. This is not McCaskey's only contribution, she does have a long donor history going back to the 90's of donating to Republican candidates and conservative causes, including a $5K donation earlier this week to Tom Morrison.
- On Thursday Casey Urlacher filed an A-1 loaning himself $34K.
- On Saturday Sam McCann filed an A-1 for $33,500 in mostly labor money.
- On Tuesday Liberty Principles filed a new B-1 for $40K for TV and mail for Bryce Benton.
- Illinois Safety & Justice, the independent expenditure committee supporting Kim Foxx added significant funds this week. On Friday they added $50K from George Soros and then on Wednesday they added another $100K from Soros. The large donations from Soros to the IE were a bit perplexing, there are no contribution limits in this race so he could have made these donations directly to the Foxx campaign. In fact Illinois Safety & Justice added so much money from George Soros that on Wednesday they had to amend their statement of organization to list Soros as a sponsoring entity. You may remember this "sponsoring entity" issue from my previous mention regarding Dunkin (who still hasn't amended his D-1). They quickly started spending this money on Tuesday spending $40K on direct mail, and then again on Thursday spending another $40K on direct mail. That last $40K put them over $100K spent on this race which would normally eliminate the contribution limits but the caps were already off, however it did still trigger an official notification.
- Also this week Kim Foxx added significant funds to her campaign committee, last Friday she filed an A-1 for $235K including $200K from Fred Eychaner, $15K from attorney Arthur Loevy and $5K from Jack Franks' candidate committee.
- On Monday Donna More added $90K, $82K came from herself as in-kinds for mail & consulting. She added an additional $14K on Wednesday.
- On Tuesday Anita Alvarez added $94K, including two identical $30K donations from the plumbers/pipefitters (possible duplicates?).
- Last Friday judicial candidate Kathleen Mesich loaned herself $25K.
- Last Friday the Illinois Republican Party added $161K, including $150K from Governor Rauner. The party has been making a number of independent expenditures supporting two of Rauner's favored candidates facing Republican primaries, Avery Bourne, a former Rauner campaign worker and Sara Wojcicki Jimenez, the First Lady's former Chief of Staff.
- On Sunday Support Independent Maps reported another $12K.
- A new PAC, New Urban Conservative PAC, whose purpose is "To advance the conservative cause in urban areas" added $21K from Richard and Elizabeth Uihlein.
- On Monday the Cook County Democratic Party added $40K from the Foxx campaign, their slated candidate for State's Attorney.
- On Monday MWRD candidate Marty Durkan added not one, not two but three A-1's totaling $45K.
- On Monday Toni Preckwinkle added $142K, including $50K from the Operating Engineers Local 150, $20K from the Illinois Pipe Trades and $10K from Midway Airport Concessionaires.
- On Tuesday the International Union of Operating Engineers added $50K to their PAC.
- On Tuesday Stand for Children moved $65K to its independent expenditure committee.
- On Tuesday Lt. Governor Evelyn Sanguinetti added $2,500 from the Realtors.
- On Wednesday Chicagoans United for Economic Security PAC added $28K, including $25K from CTU and $3K from the Cook County College Teachers. On Thursday they added another $200K from CTU.
- On Thursday Michelle Harris moved $48K from her aldermanic candidate committee to her circuit court clerk candidate committee.
- On Thursday the House Republican Organization added $45K while Leader Durkin added $8K.
- On Thursday the IL Lunch Pail Republicans PAC filed not one but two separate A-1's totaling $100K from the Operating Engineers.
- On Thursday Alderman Brendan Reilly moved $15K from his aldermanic campaign committee over to the ward organization, 42nd Ward Democratic Org. The ward organization has been spending money to support both Juliana Stratton and Jay Travis.
There were 4 A-1's filed after 11pm. It's 22 days out your staffers should be in a bar, or at home begging their loved ones for forgiveness.
— IL Election Data (@ILElectionData) February 23, 2016
Seriously, don't make your staff stay until midnight to file something they could have filed at 8:30. Knock it off.
- Two Fridays ago the Realtors added $27K to their fund and then immediately spent it on independent expenditures. Last Friday they did the same thing, first they added $22K from their members and then they filed a B-1 for mailers for Chris Welch ($12K) and Jaime Andrade ($10K).
- On Wednesday the Democratic Legislative Campaign Committee created an Illinois registered PAC.
You can find the complete list of all the funds available, every A-1 filed, every B-1 filed and a complete listing of all the candidates and districts in our Racing Forms. The Illinois Racing Form covers every General Assembly race while the Cook County Racing Form covers all the countywide, judicial, MWRD and Chicago committeemen races, full details below.
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The Illinois Racing Form
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The Cook County Racing Form
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I've been tweeting a lot of interesting updates from recent disclosures and I thought I'd do a weekly roundup to try to summarize the week's interesting news and organize these developments into a format you can follow. Here is last week's roundup.
- A-1 reports are for contributions received by the committee of $1,000 or more.
- B-1 reports are for independent expenditures made independent of the candidate (cannot be coordinated).
- Regular expenditures (not independent expenditures) are not reported until the quarterly filings are due, next on 3/31.
What follows is not every development in each of these races, only the big and/or notable ones. For comprehensive coverage of all the campaign finance data subscribe to either or both of our Racing Forms, updated weekly. The Illinois Racing Form covers all the General Assembly races, the Cook County Racing Form covers all the county candidates, MWRD, judges and committeemen races.
- Last Friday IllinoisGO filed another B-1 for $18K in mailing opposing Juliana Stratton.
- On Saturday Juliana Stratton filed an A-1 for $108K.
- On Sunday Juliana Stratton added $88K, including $85K from the IFT.
- On Tuesday IllinoisGO filed another B-1 for $47K for TV supporting Ken Dunkin and TV and mail opposing Juliana Stratton.
- On Tuesday Juliana Stratton added $111K, including $55K from the Construction & General Laborers' District Council.
- On Wednesday Juliana Stratton reported receiving $19K in in-kinds, including $13K from the 42nd Ward Democratic Organization which appears to be the disclosure for the anti-Dunkin mailer that was in the news last week.
- Thursday IllinoisGO filed another B-1 for $243K supporting Ken Dunkin/opposing Juliana Stratton for field work, media production, mail and phones. The media production was listed as opposing Stratton so a new anti-Stratton TV ad could be appearing soon.
- On Saturday Illinois United for Change, the independent expenditure committee that has been supporting Jason Gonzales, added $10K to their IE committee.
- On Wednesday Jason Gonzales added $9K, mostly from various CEOs.
- Thursday Illinois United for Change, the independent expenditure committee that has been supporting Jason Gonzales added $100K, including $50K from Hull Investments.
- Worth noting: the four funds controlled by Speaker Madigan have an estimated funds available of almost $9 million.
- Last Friday right after reporting an A-1 for $27K from member dues the National Association of REALTORS Fund they then filed a B-1 for independent expenditures supporting Christian Mitchell for $27K for direct mail, phone calls and online ads.
- On Sunday Jay Travis added $26K, including $25K from the IFT.
- On Tuesday Jay Travis added $31K, including $25K from CTU.
- On Tuesday Jay Travis reported an in-kind for $4K for a mailing from the 42nd Ward Democratic Organization.
- Thursday Jay Travis informed the State Board that her Tuesday filing was in error and the contribution from CTU should have been for $12K instead of $25K.
- Late last Thursday night Liberty Principles PAC filed a B-1 for $22K for ads supporting Allen Skillicorn.
- Thursday Liberty Principles PAC filed a B-1 for $23K for TV ads and graphic design for Allen Skillicorn.
- On Tuesday Democratic Majority filed another B-1 for $4K for printing opposing Katelyn Hotle.
- On Tuesday Democratic Majority filed another B-1 for $4K for postage opposing Katelyn Hotle.
- Late last Thursday night Liberty Principles PAC filed a B-1 for $52K for ads supporting Brandi McGuire.
- On Saturday Liberty Principles PAC filed a B-1 for $12K for TV ads supporting Brandi McGuire.
- On Saturday Liberty Principles PAC filed a B-1 for $22K for TV ads supporting Mike DeSutter.
- On Monday Liberty Principles PAC filed a B-1 for $13K for graphic design work supporting Mike DeSutter.
- Thursday Liberty Principles PAC filed a B-1 for $7K for radio ads for Mike DeSutter.
- On Tuesday the Illinois Republican Party filed a B-1 for $153K for TV ads supporting Avery Bourne.
- On Tuesday the Illinois Republican Party filed a B-1 for $5K for telephone polling and ID supporting Avery Bourne.
- On Tuesday the Illinois Republican Party filed a B-1 for $171K for TV ads supporting Sara Wojcicki Jimenez.
- Late last Thursday night Liberty Principles PAC filed a B-1 for $15K for ads supporting Brad Halbrook.
- On Monday Liberty Principles PAC filed a B-1 for $15K for graphic design work supporting Brad Halbrook.
- Thursday Liberty Principles PAC filed a B-1 for $2K for radio ads for Brad Halbrook.
- On Monday Liberty Principles PAC filed a B-1 for $7K for graphic design work supporting Reggie Phillips.
- On Tuesday incumbent Reggie Phillips added $5K from the candidate committee of Leader Jim Durkin.
- Thursday Liberty Principles PAC filed a B-1 for $11K for TV ads for Reggie Phillips.
- On Wednesday Patricia Van Pelt added $21K including $20K from the Illinois Senate Democratic Victory Fund, President Cullerton's caucus leadership fund.
- Late last Thursday night Liberty Principles PAC filed a B-1 for $4K for ads supporting Dan McConchie.
- Thursday Liberty Principles PAC filed a B-1 for $12K for graphic design for Dan McConchie.
- On Saturday Liberty Principles PAC filed a B-1 for $10K for research supporting Bryce Benton.
- Very late on Saturday night Sam McCann filed an A-1 adding $103K in mostly labor money but also including $10K from Stand for Children.
- On Tuesday Bryce Benton added $1K from the candidate committee of former State Rep and current Ag Director Raymond Poe.
- Thursday Liberty Principles PAC filed a B-1 for $648K for TV ads and polling for Bryce Benton.
- Late last Thursday night Liberty Principles PAC filed a B-1 for $10K for ads supporting Paul Schimpf.
- On Saturday Liberty Principles PAC filed a B-1 for $9K for graphic design work supporting Paul Schimpf.
- Thursday Liberty Principles PAC filed a B-1 for $9K for graphic design for Paul Schimpf.
- Last Friday Illinois Safety and Justice, the IE supporting Kim Foxx, filed another B-1 for $17K on mail for her.
- On Tuesday Illinois Safety and Justice, the IE supporting Kim Foxx, added $70K from George Soros. There are no contribution limits in this race, Donna More met the self funding threshold to remove the contribution limits, so Soros could have donated this amount directly to the Foxx campaign, which is a little odd.
- On Tuesday Anita Alvarez added $78K, including $50K from the Chicago Regional Council of Carpenters PAC.
- On Tuesday Kim Foxx filed not one but two A-1's totaling $245K including $200K from Fred Eychaner.
- On Wednesday the Sun-Times reported that the Kim Foxx campaign violated the campaign finance laws by failing to report a poll paid for by the candidate committee of Toni Preckwinkle as an in-kind contribution. That same day the Foxx campaign did file an A-1 reporting the in-kind contribution.
- On Wednesday Anita Alvarez added $31K, including $20K from the Illinois Pipe Trades PAC .
- Late Thursday night Kim Foxx filed not one, not two, but three A-1's for a total of $81K including $50K from SEIU Illinois Council PAC.
- Last Friday Chicago Treasurer Kurt Summers filed an A-1 for about $20K.
- Last Friday Judge Anna Loftus filed an A-1 for a personal loan to her campaign of $30K.
- Last Friday UFCW Local 881 filed an A-1 adding $200K in member dues to their PAC.
- "Put it on the Underhill tab." Last Friday judicial candidate Ed Underhill filed an A-1 for a personal loan of $25K to his campaign committee.
- Last Friday Wine and Spirits Distributors of Illinois PAC filed an A-1 for $43K.
- Last Friday the Illinois Association of REALTORS added $100K to their PAC.
- Last Friday the Illinois Pipe Trades PEF reported adding $95K in member dues to their PAC.
- Support Independent Maps continues to add funds, but this time just $5K.
- On Saturday Elaine Nekritz, who currently has no opponent in the primary or general, added $28K of mostly trial lawyer money.
- On Tuesday the IBEW added $42K in member dues to their PAC.
- On Tuesday SEIU Illinois Council added $75K in member dues to their PAC.
- On Wednesday SEIU Healthcare Illinois Indiana added $214K to their PAC.
- On Wednesday the IFT added $140K from their locals, including $51K from CTU.
- On Wednesday Melinda Bush, who has a general election opponent but no primary opponent, added $56K, including $54K from the IEA.
- On Wednesday Kwame Raoul, who is on the ballot this cycle but currently faces no primary or general election opposition, added $34K in mostly trial lawyer money.
- On Wednesday Dan Beiser, currently facing no opposition in the primary or general elections, added $30K from the IBEW.
- On Wednesday Barbara Flynn Currie, who currently has no opponent in the primary or general elections, added $30K from 22 different donors.
- The Comptroller's race has been very, very quiet but Thursday Leslie Munger added $5K.
- Thursday the Illinois Laborers' Legislative Committee filed not one but two A-1's adding about $85K of member money to their PAC.
- Thursday Citizens for Rauner, Inc filed its first A-1 since October and just the 3rd since taking office, for $7,500.
- On Tuesday Stand for Children's IE reported an in-kind for $8,500 for research and then Thursday they reported an in-kind for $2K for data. It appears likely that they are about to start spending some money on independent expenditures, likely for mail.
- This cycle there are two Metropolitan Water Reclamation District elections, one for a 6 year term that has six active candidates (voters choose 3) and one for a 2 year term that has three active candidates (voters choose 1). One of the candidates in the 2 year election, Marty Durkan, has raised an impressive amount disclosed on A-1's so far this quarter, despite not being slated by the Cook County Democratic Party. He has reported almost $255K in A-1's this quarter but it appears some are duplicates and his actual haul is more likely about $199K which is still an impressive sum and far more than the $86K that the other 8 MWRD candidates have disclosed raising so far this quarter COMBINED. Then on Monday Michelle Harris, slated candidate for Cook County Clerk of the Circuit Court, filed an A-1 disclosing an in-kind contribution of $50K for a mailing from Friends of Marty Durkan. A Twitter follower sent along a scan of the mailer, it's double sided featuring Durkan on one side and Harris on the other. The next day Rich Miller followed up with a little more info on the mailer and as you can see in the comments some of his commenters reported receiving the mailer despite not having a Democratic primary voting history and another one of my Twitter followers mentioned that both he and his wife received one so whoever set up their data file apparently didn't household it. Durkan has raised a lot of money so it's a race to keep an eye on.
- Last Friday NBC5's Ward Room blog posted an item about a new ad attacking Ken Dunkin that debuted last Wednesday from Citizens Against Corruption, chaired by William J. Kelly. There is no active committee named "Citizens Against Corruption" registered with either the Illinois State Board of Elections or the FEC. In fact, there is no active committee with the word "corruption" in its name registered with the State Board of Elections and none in Illinois that are registered with the FEC.
- On Thursday 109th district Republican House candidate John Curtis (not to be confused with 93rd district Democratic House candidate John Curtis) filed a D-1 to create his candidate committee named "Citizens to Bring Illinois Back". Per 5/9-2. (b): "The name of each candidate political committee shall identify the name of the public official or candidate supported by the candidate political committee." He'll have to amend his D-1 to change the name of his committee to include his own name.
- On Wednesday I tweeted that I thought 5 General Assembly races had had enough independent expenditure spending to exceed the $100K threshold to remove the contribution limits for those offices. After studying the code on independent expenditures more closely I now believe that was in error and only 3 General Assembly races have had enough (and the right kind of) independent expenditure spending to remove the contribution limits for those offices. Upon closer reading of 5/9-8.5 (h-5) and 5/9-8.5 (h-10) that only independent expenditures made by natural persons or independent expenditure committees that aggregate to over $100K (as opposed to independent expenditures made by party committees or PACs) will trigger the provision that removes the contribution limits for that office. Based on that narrower reading 3 General Assembly races should already meet that standard, the 5th House (Ken Dukin, IllinoisGO), the 72nd House (Brandi McGuire, Liberty Principles PAC) and the 50th Senate (Bryce Benton, Liberty Principles PAC). The State Board's Contribution Limits Off List appears to be up to date.
You can find the complete list of all the funds available, every A-1 filed, every B-1 filed and a complete listing of all the candidates and districts in our Racing Forms. The Illinois Racing Form covers every General Assembly race while the Cook County Racing Form covers all the countywide, judicial, MWRD and Chicago committeemen races, full details below.
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The Illinois Racing Form
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The Cook County Racing Form
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If you've been following along with our regular Twitter updates you have likely noticed a number of B-1 filings, notice of independent expenditures. Independent expenditures are a relatively new type of uncoordinated independent spending that was defined in the Citizens United Supreme Court decision. This primary cycle independent expenditures are playing a larger role in Illinois elections than ever before so I thought I'd put together a primer on some of the more frequent questions.
Note: I am not an election law attorney, if you need legal advice you should consult an attorney that specializes in the subject matter.
For starters, I cribbed the Illinois Election Code and State Board rules for the sections that apply to independent expenditures. It's not that long and you can read up on all of the language that applies.
Here is some additional info in a Q & A format:
1. What's the difference between a traditional PAC and an independent expenditure committee?
Illinois election law allows for the creation of both a traditional political action committee (PAC) and an independent expenditure committee. Under Illinois law a PAC is subject to all of the contribution limits that apply to PACs. Independent expenditure committees are the allowable exception to campaign finance limits under the Citizens United Supreme Court decision:
The United States Supreme Court held that the First Amendment prohibited the government from restricting independent political expenditures by a nonprofit corporation. The principles articulated by the Supreme Court in the case have also been extended to for-profit corporations, labor unions and other associations.
Independent expenditure committees are allowed to raise and spend unlimited funds, with certain reporting requirements. However independent expenditure committees are not allowed to give directly to other candidate committees, party committees or PACs.
5/9-8.6 (d) In the event that a political committee organized as an independent expenditure committee makes a contribution to any other political committee other than another independent expenditure committee or a ballot initiative committee, the State Board shall assess a fine equal to the amount of any contribution received in the preceding 2 years by the independent expenditure committee that exceeded the limits for a political action committee set forth in subsection (d) of Section 9-8.5
2. What makes an expenditure independent?
5/9-1.15 Independent Expenditure.
"Independent expenditure" means any payment, gift, donation, or expenditure of funds (i) by a natural person or political committee for the purpose of making electioneering communications or of expressly advocating for or against the nomination for election, election, retention, or defeat of a clearly identifiable public official or candidate or for or against any question of public policy to be submitted to the voters and (ii) that is not made in connection, consultation, or concert with or at the request or suggestion of the public official or candidate, the public official's or candidate's designated political committee or campaign, or the agent or agents of the public official, candidate, or political committee or campaign.
3. Are independent expenditures only allowed from independent expenditure committees?
No, candidate committees, party committees and PACs can also make independent expenditures and then would face the same reporting requirements as it pertains to B-1 filings. Independent expenditure committees can raise unlimited funds to spend on independent expenditures whereas candidate committees, party committees and PACs are subject to campaign finance limits.
4. How are independent expenditures reported?
Independent expenditures of $1,000 or more are disclosed on form B-1 within 5 business days, except in the 60 days preceding an election when they must be reported in 2 business days.
5/9-10. (e) A political committee that makes independent expenditures of $1,000 or more shall file a report electronically with the Board within 5 business days after making the independent expenditure, except that the report shall be filed within 2 business days after making the independent expenditure during the 60-day period before an election.
5. What is the independent expenditure threshold that removes contribution limits from an election for office?
For statewide races it is $250,000, for all other races it is $100,000.
5/9-8.5 (h-5) If a natural person or independent expenditure committee makes independent expenditures in support of or in opposition to the campaign of a particular public official or candidate in an aggregate amount of more than (i) $250,000 for statewide office or (ii) $100,000 for all other elective offices in an election cycle, as reported in a written disclosure filed under subsection (a) of Section 9-8.6 or subsection (e-5) of Section 9-10, ... all candidates for that office in that election, including the public official or candidate for whose benefit or detriment the natural person or independent expenditure committee made independent expenditures, shall be permitted to accept contributions in excess of any contribution limits imposed by subsection (b).
Note: contribution limits can also be removed in the event of self funding at the same thresholds:
5/9-8.5 (h) Self-funding candidates. If a public official, a candidate, or the public official's or candidate's immediate family contributes or loans to the public official's or candidate's political committee or to other political committees that transfer funds to the public official's or candidate's political committee or makes independent expenditures for the benefit of the public official's or candidate's campaign during the 12 months prior to an election in an aggregate amount of more than (i) $250,000 for statewide office or (ii) $100,000 for all other elective offices, ... all candidates for that office, including the public official or candidate who filed a Notification of Self-funding, shall be permitted to accept contributions in excess of any contribution limits imposed by subsection (b). If a public official or candidate filed a Notification of Self-Funding during an election cycle that includes a general primary election or consolidated primary election and that public official or candidate is nominated, all candidates for that office, including the nominee who filed the notification of self-funding, shall be permitted to accept contributions in excess of any contribution limit imposed by subsection (b) for the subsequent election cycle. For the purposes of this subsection, "immediate family" means the spouse, parent, or child of a public official or candidate.
6. Are there any additional filing obligations?
Yes, when an independent expenditure committee makes an independent expenditure that results in exceeding the thresholds for removing contribution limits as outlined above that independent expenditure committee is required to notify the State Board of Elections.
5/9-10. (e-5) An independent expenditure committee that makes an independent expenditure supporting or opposing a public official or candidate that, alone or in combination with any other independent expenditure made by that independent expenditure committee supporting or opposing that public official or candidate during the election cycle, equals an aggregate value of more than (i) $250,000 for statewide office or (ii) $100,000 for all other elective offices must file a written disclosure with the State Board of Elections within 2 business days after making any expenditure that results in the independent expenditure committee exceeding the applicable threshold. The Board shall assess a civil penalty against an independent expenditure committee for failure to file the disclosure required by this subsection not to exceed (i) $500 for an initial failure to file the required disclosure and (ii) $1,000 for each subsequent failure to file the required disclosure.
7. Once the contribution limits have been removed from an election for office why don't these IE's just give their remaining funds directly to their favored candidate?
Independent expenditure committees are not permitted to make donations directly to candidate committees, party committees or PACs, they can only legally give money to other independent expenditure committees or ballot initiative committees.
5/9-8.6 (d) In the event that a political committee organized as an independent expenditure committee makes a contribution to any other political committee other than another independent expenditure committee or a ballot initiative committee, the State Board shall assess a fine equal to the amount of any contribution received in the preceding 2 years by the independent expenditure committee that exceeded the limits for a political action committee set forth in subsection (d) of Section 9-8.5
I've been tweeting a lot of interesting updates from recent disclosures and I realize that the volume is so great that it's starting to turn into white noise for most followers so I thought I'd do a weekly roundup to try to summarize the week's interesting news and organize these developments into a format you can follow.
- A-1 reports are for contributions received by the committee of $1,000 or more.
- B-1 reports are for independent expenditures made independent of the candidate (cannot be coordinated).
- Regular expenditures (not independent expenditures) are not reported until the quarterly filings are due, next on 3/31.
- On Wednesday the National Association of Realtors filed a B-1 for Alex Acevedo for $29K for mail, phones and online ads.
- Last month IllinoisGO filed three B-1's for Ken Dunkin for $240K for field work, production and mailings. (more on this at the bottom)
- Last week Ken Dunkin filed an A-1 for $502K, including a $500K contribution from the Illinois Opportunity Project, it is believed to be the largest single donation ever for a General Assembly race. (more on this at the bottom)
- Last week IllinoisGO filed three B-1's for Ken Dunkin for $36K for mailings, another $36K for mailings (this time technically opposing Juliana Stratton) and $19K for printing.
- On Sunday Juliana Stratton filed an A-1 for $235K in labor money from AFSCME, SEIU and the carpenters.
- On Monday IllinoisGO filed a B-1 for Ken Dunkin for $10K for production.
- On Tuesday IllinoisGO filed a B-1 for Ken Dunkin for $30Kfor TV ads.
- On Wednesday IllinoisGO filed a B-1 for Ken Dunkin for $3Kfor field work.
- Late last month a new independent expenditure committee was created, Illinois United for Change that was later seeded with $100K including $50K from Hull Investments.
- Last Friday they started spending some of that money, filing a B-1 in support of Jason Gonzales for $28K for field work, palm cards and robo calls.
- On Tuesday Jason Gonzales filed an A-1 for $16,400.
- Worth noting: the four funds controlled by Speaker Madigan have an estimated funds available of almost $9 million.
- Last week Liberty Principles PAC filed two B-1's totaling $35K for Allen Skillicorn for TV and newspaper advertising.
- On Wednesday the National Association of Realtors filed a B-1 for Carolyn Schofield for $21K for mail, phones and online ads.
- Last Friday Democratic Majority, the leadership PAC for the House Democrats, filed its first B-1 of the season for $3,730.07 for postage opposing Katelyn Hotle.
- On Tuesday Democratic Majority once again filed a B-1 for $3,730.07 for postage opposing Katelyn Hotle.
- Last week Liberty Principles PAC filed 3 B-1's for Brandi McGuire for $101K for radio ads, TV ads and newspaper ads.
- On Thursday Jordan Thoms filed an A-1 disclosing a loan from himself to the committee for $55K.
- On Monday the Illinois Republican Party filed a B-1 for $238K for Avery Bourne for advertising and production.
- Also on Monday the Illinois Republican Party filed a B-1 for $7K for Avery Bourne for consulting and mail.
- Last month the Illinois Republican Party filed a B-1 for Sara Wojcicki Jimenez for $6K for mailings.
- On Monday the Illinois Republican Party filed a B-1 for Sara Wojcicki Jimenez for $2.5K for consultant pay.
- It's not uncommon for legislative leaders to come to the aid of their incumbents when facing tough primaries. On Tuesday Patricia Van Pelt filed an A-1 for $23K that included $10K from the Illinois Senate Democratic Victory Fund.
- On Thursday Bob Fioretti filed an A-1 for a personal loan of $50K.
- On Wednesday the National Association of Realtors filed a B-1 for Michael Hastings for $25K for mail and phones.
- Last week Liberty Principles PAC filed two B-1's for Dan McConchie for $14K for newspaper ads and $15K for graphic design.
- On Monday Liberty Principles PAC filed a B-1 for Dan McConchie for $37K for TV ads.
- On Wednesday the National Association of Realtors filed a B-1 for Martin McLaughlin for $29K for mail and phones.
- Late last month Liberty Principles PAC filed B-1's for Bryce Benton for $326K for TV and Mail and another $8,753.12 for additional mail.
- Last week Liberty Principles PAC filed another B-1 for $313K for Bryce Benton for radio ads.
- On Monday Liberty Principles PAC filed a B-1 for $8,742.02 for Bryce Benton for postage and graphic design.
- On Wednesday Sam McCann filed an A-1 for $91K with largely labor money, but also $1K from the Sangamon County Republican Central Committee. McCann previously made news when he broke with the Governor and voted for the AFSCME arbitration bill.
- Last week Liberty Principles PAC filed a B-1 for Paul Schimpf for $14K for newspaper ads.
- On Monday Liberty Principles PAC filed a B-1 for Paul Schimpf for $31K for TV ads.
- Last Thursday Kim Foxx filed an A-1 for over $120K, including $75K from SEIU Healthcare.
- Last Friday Anita Alvarez filed an A-1 for just less than $100K.
- On Monday Donna More filed an A-1 for $52K.
- A new independent expenditure committee, Illinois Safety and Justice, was formed last week by Whitney Tymas to support Kim Foxx and despite reporting no A-1's for contributions received they filed two B-1's this week.
- On Tuesday they filed a B-1 for $17,165.65 for direct mail supporting Kim Foxx.
- On Wednesday they filed a B-1 for $17,455.65 for direct mail supporting Kim Foxx.
- Continuing a trend that was very evident if you closely studied the fundraising totals of targeted House Dems from last quarter those targeted candidates have been raising very large sums into their candidate committees in what appears to be part of a team approach. Last quarter 11 House Dems raised over $247K (3 of them were over $500K). Last Tuesday four House Dems all filed similar A-1's:
- Kathleen Willis filed an A-1 for $26K including $25K from AFSCME.
- Anna Moeller filed an A-1 for $25K including $25K from AFSCME.
- Michelle Mussman filed an A-1 for $25K including $25K from AFSCME.
- John Bradley filed an A-1 for $15K including $15K from AFSCME.
- Last week AFSCME added $200K in member dues to their PAC. So far this year they've added $800K to their PAC.
- Last Friday Julie Morrison filed an A-1 for $50K.
- On Monday Support Independent Maps filed an A-1 for $35K. They now have an estimated funds available of $545K.
- On Tuesday Deb Conroy filed an A-1 for about $94K, including $53,900 from the Engineers and $25K from AFSCME.
- On Tuesday Water Rec candidate Marty Durkan filed an A-1 for about $88K.
- On Wednesday the National Association of REALTORS Fund replenished their PAC fund with $106K of member dues. They started the year with only $500 in the bank so this A-1 represents the bulk of their current spending power. Later that afternoon they spent almost all of that money on the various independent expenditures outlined above.
- On Wednesday the Chicagoland Operators Joint Labor-Management PAC bulked up their PAC fund with $364K of member money. They began the year with $912K on hand so now they have about $1.275 million available.
- On Wednesday judicial candidate Gregory Lapapa filed an A-1 for a loan of $50K of what appears to be his own money.
- Late last month Chicago for Rahm Emanuel reported receiving an in-kind donation of $37K for mailing/postage from Stand for Children, I haven't seen this mentioned anywhere else and I don't know what the mailer was for.
- Last week judicial candidate James DiChristofano filed an A-1 for $52K. If you're reading this you probably have a 12/31 quarterly filing obligation that is delinquent, you created your committee in December. Even if you had no economic activity you should still file a $0.00 12/31 quarterly D-2.
- On Monday judicial candidate Patricia Spratt filed a notice of self funding for $100K
- On Tuesday a new Republican PAC was formed, the Committee for Bold Leadership in Illinois.
- It's not every day that you see a $15K contribution (or in this case a loan) from an office manager.
The Democratic primary between Ken Dunkin and Juliana Stratton is not just heated and expensive, it is so unique that it is triggering some sections of the election code and State Board rules that are not often needed.
- Are B-1's subject to rule 100.70(c) of the State Board rules? After reading through the language once again I can't find anything to suggest that they aren't. Independent expenditures are a relatively new phenomenon that didn't exist until contribution limits became law in 2011 so it's entirely possible that this issue hasn't been addressed before, at least as it applies to B-1 filings. Rule 100.70(c) is the "conduits rule", the rule that prevents committees from hiding the true recipient of a disbursement by paying an intermediary who acts as a conduit and then pays out another. It's the rule that forces committees to itemize their credit card bills and payroll rather than just showing a lump sum to the credit card company or payroll processing company. IllinoisGO filed a B-1 that included a $140,705.82 lump sum payment for "field work" that seems very likely to be subject to the conduits rule and if B-1's are subject to this rule then their method of disclosure is probably not in compliance. If you're interested in reading some more about rule 100.70(c) I went into it in some depth when discussing the Governor's gift card controversy last summer.
- Committees that receive more that 33% of their funds from a single source have to list that source as a Sponsoring Entity. The $500,000 donation from the Illinois Opportunity Project to Ken Dunkin is large enough that it may trigger this provision, in which case Dunkin's committee would have to file an amended D-1 and list the IOP as its sponsoring entity.
You can find the complete list of all the funds available, every A-1 filed, every B-1 filed and a complete listing of all the candidates and districts in our Racing Forms. The Illinois Racing Form covers every General Assembly race while the Cook County Racing Form covers all the countywide, judicial, MWRD and Chicago committeemen races, full details below.
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The Illinois Racing Form
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The Cook County Racing Form
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Last Friday was the filing deadline for the 4th quarter 2015 campaign finance reports (D-2's) and since we have all of that data I thought it would be interesting to update this tweet with a more up to date and thorough look at the state of the money race for the State House. When we last looked at this data it was late December, two and a half months into the quarter and so we had a lot of recent contribution data via A-1 filings but our data on spending and true cash on hand was quite out of date. The data we have now is much closer to the start of the filing period and these estimates are much closer to the true picture.
The race for the State House began almost right after the 2014 election when then Governor-elect Rauner and his allies put $20 million into his campaign committee and later created another Independent Expenditure committee, Turnaround Illinois, with $4.25 million. The Governor, as leader of his party, has pledged to use his resources this cycle to help elect more Republicans to the General Assembly. The Democrats have been playing catch up ever since and by some measures may have actually passed the Republicans in the fundraising race.
Total Raised (including in-kinds) for Q4 2015
| Democratic Committee | Q4 Raised & In-kind |
|---|---|
| Democratic Party of Illinois | $1,786,444.01 |
| Friends of Michael J. Madigan | $1,747,639.53 |
| Democratic Majority | $1,632,063.67 |
| 13th Ward Democratic Org | $638,950.00 |
| Citizens for John Cullerton for State Senate | $884,520.00 |
| Senate Democratic Victory Fund | $1,554,358.12 |
| Committee to Support John Cullerton for State Central Committeeman | $476,011.73 |
| Dem Senators Not On Ballot This Cycle | $637,882.30 |
| Dem Senate Candidates | $1,792,328.42 |
| Dem House Candidates | $7,190,292.50 |
| Total | $18,340,490.28 |
| Republican Committee | Q4 Raised & Inkind |
|---|---|
| Citizens for Rauner, Inc | $4,199.00 |
| Turnaround Illinois | $1,320.78 |
| Illinois Republican Party | $179,912.70 |
| Citizens for Durkin | $344,572.77 |
| House Republican Organization | $282,875.47 |
| Citizens for Christine Radogno | $303,275.39 |
| Republican State Senate Campaign Committee | $306,385.96 |
| Rep Senators Not On Ballot This Cycle | $259,036.64 |
| Rep Senate Candidates | $705,473.89 |
| Rep House Candidates | $1,185,456.33 |
| Total | $3,572,508.93 |
The Democrats outraised the Republicans in the 4th quarter, that was expected since they have been playing catch up. What is quite noticeable however is the disparity, the Democrats raised roughly $15 million more than the Republicans this quarter, and not just in leadership, much of it going into the actual candidate committees. Aside from Durkin and Radogno the only Republican campaign committee to raise six figures last quarter was Jil Tracy ($105K). On the Democratic side aside from Madigan and Cullerton 19 other Democratic campaign committees raised more than $100K including 11 House committees over $247K and 3 over $500K.
Now let's look at the current cash position of all those involved by combining the 12/31 cash on hand, plus the 12/31 investment total plus any reported A-1 amounts so far this quarter.
Current Cash Position
| Democratic Committee | Q4 COH | Q4 INV | Q1 A-1s | Est Funds Avail |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Democratic Party of Illinois | $2,394,998.90 | $0.00 | $3,900.00 | $2,398,898.90 |
| Friends of Michael J. Madigan | $2,157,364.97 | $0.00 | $10,600.00 | $2,167,964.97 |
| Democratic Majority | $2,732,949.01 | $0.00 | $1,214.00 | $2,734,163.01 |
| 13th Ward Democratic Org | $1,254,380.90 | $0.00 | $55,000.00 | $1,309,380.90 |
| Citizens for John Cullerton for State Senate | $1,211,497.20 | $300,300.46 | $0.00 | $1,511,797.66 |
| Senate Democratic Victory Fund | $2,145,308.24 | $404,232.00 | $17,475.00 | $2,567,015.24 |
| Committee to Support John Cullerton for State Central Committeeman | $695,817.67 | $0.00 | $0.00 | $695,817.67 |
| Dem Senators Not On Ballot This Cycle | $3,597,832.59 | $42.36 | $4,600.00 | $3,602,474.95 |
| Dem Senate Candidates | $4,722,092.16 | $220,007.00 | $75,681.80 | $5,017,780.96 |
| Dem House Candidates | $13,052,436.87 | $770,871.69 | $571,430.80 | $14,394,739.36 |
| Total | $33,964,678.51 | $1,695,453.51 | $739,901.60 | $36,400,033.62 |
| Republican Committee | Q4 COH | Q4 INV | Q1 A-1s | Est Funds Avail |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Citizens for Rauner, Inc | $19,555,040.91 | $0.00 | $0.00 | $19,555,040.91 |
| Turnaround Illinois | $2,595,379.90 | $0.00 | $0.00 | $2,595,379.90 |
| Illinois Republican Party | $400,498.12 | $0.00 | $21,600.00 | $422,098.12 |
| Citizens for Durkin | $773,783.80 | $0.00 | $9,500.00 | $783,283.80 |
| House Republican Organization | $290,416.05 | $0.00 | $14,500.00 | $304,916.05 |
| Citizens for Christine Radogno | $534,402.53 | $0.00 | $2,500.00 | $536,902.53 |
| Republican State Senate Campaign Committee | $427,720.49 | $0.00 | $60,600.00 | $488,320.49 |
| Rep Senators Not On Ballot This Cycle | $944,113.77 | $0.00 | $0.00 | $944,113.77 |
| Rep Senate Candidates | $1,447,659.18 | $45,300.00 | $85,500.00 | $1,578,459.18 |
| Rep House Candidates | $3,198,673.67 | $0.00 | $209,343.02 | $3,408,016.69 |
| Total | $30,167,688.42 | $45,300.00 | $403,543.02 | $30,616,531.44 |
As of right now there is roughly $67 million sitting in the accounts of various campaign committees waiting to be spent on General Assembly races this cycle and the Dems have about a $6 million advantage ($36.4m to $30.6m). That's a lot of money.
However it does not take into account all of the money that has already been spent. Candidates have been hiring staff, buying yard signs, doing polls and spending money on any number of useful needs that will help them come election time. So let's combine the totals above with the amounts already spent by each committee (plus in-kinds) in 2015.
Cycle Spending Ability
| Democratic Committee | 2015 Spent | Q4 COH | Q4 INV | Q1 A-1s | Cycle Spending Ability |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Democratic Party of Illinois | $466,425.77 | $2,394,998.90 | $0.00 | $3,900.00 | $2,865,324.67 |
| Friends of Michael J. Madigan | $588,244.74 | $2,157,364.97 | $0.00 | $10,600.00 | $2,756,209.71 |
| Democratic Majority | $329,315.45 | $2,732,949.01 | $0.00 | $1,214.00 | $3,063,478.46 |
| 13th Ward Democratic Org | $181,628.13 | $1,254,380.90 | $0.00 | $55,000.00 | $1,491,009.03 |
| Citizens for John Cullerton for State Senate | $568,926.16 | $1,211,497.20 | $300,300.46 | $0.00 | $2,080,723.82 |
| Senate Democratic Victory Fund | $1,049,868.27 | $2,145,308.24 | $404,232.00 | $17,475.00 | $3,616,883.51 |
| Committee to Support John Cullerton for State Central Committeeman | $42,706.07 | $695,817.67 | $0.00 | $0.00 | $738,523.74 |
| Dem Senators Not On Ballot This Cycle | $1,464,126.75 | $3,597,832.59 | $42.36 | $4,600.00 | $5,066,601.70 |
| Dem Senate Candidates | $2,894,326.73 | $4,722,092.16 | $220,007.00 | $75,681.80 | $7,912,107.69 |
| Dem House Candidates | $5,143,207.88 | $13,052,436.87 | $770,871.69 | $571,430.80 | $19,537,947.24 |
| Total | $12,728,775.95 | $33,964,678.51 | $1,695,453.51 | $739,901.60 | $49,128,809.57 |
| Republican Committee | 2015 Spent | Q4 COH | Q4 INV | Q1 A-1s | Cycle Spending Ability |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Citizens for Rauner, Inc | $1,372,553.02 | $19,555,040.91 | $0.00 | $0.00 | $20,927,593.93 |
| Turnaround Illinois | $1,659,222.07 | $2,595,379.90 | $0.00 | $0.00 | $4,254,601.97 |
| Illinois Republican Party | $652,689.76 | $400,498.12 | $0.00 | $21,600.00 | $1,074,787.88 |
| Citizens for Durkin | $405,035.31 | $773,783.80 | $0.00 | $9,500.00 | $1,188,319.11 |
| House Republican Organization | $427,965.08 | $290,416.05 | $0.00 | $14,500.00 | $732,881.13 |
| Citizens for Christine Radogno | $139,374.47 | $534,402.53 | $0.00 | $2,500.00 | $676,277.00 |
| Republican State Senate Campaign Committee | $575,939.69 | $427,720.49 | $0.00 | $60,600.00 | $1,064,260.18 |
| Rep Senators Not On Ballot This Cycle | $458,611.18 | $944,113.77 | $0.00 | $0.00 | $1,402,724.95 |
| Rep Senate Candidates | $997,741.47 | $1,447,659.18 | $45,300.00 | $85,500.00 | $2,576,200.65 |
| Rep House Candidates | $2,203,396.72 | $3,198,673.67 | $0.00 | $209,343.02 | $5,611,413.41 |
| Total | $8,892,528.77 | $30,167,688.42 | $45,300.00 | $403,543.02 | $39,509,060.21 |
Even if all of these committees never raise another penny they already have the ability to spend almost $90 million this cycle and it's only January. Despite starting from well behind Governor Rauner's significant funds the Democrats are currently able to spend $10 million more than the Republicans. However the Governor and his allies have demonstrated that they have very deep pockets and they can make up the difference any time they choose. Not every penny will be spent of course, many of the Senators that are not up for election this cycle will likely save their money for their next election. Also a number of these districts have primary races and quite a bit of money will be spent on primaries rather than general election contests.
And then there's the big elephant in the room, the $9 million that IllinoisGO has. They aren't the only PAC with significant funds, here is a list of the top 25 other committees that could get involved if they choose.
| Committee | Q4 COH | Q4 INV | Q1 A-1 | Est Funds Avail |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| IllinoisGO IE | $8,999,970.00 | $0.00 | $0.00 | $8,999,970.00 |
| Friends of Edward M Burke | $2,280,827.14 | $6,356,353.45 | $0.00 | $8,637,180.59 |
| Liberty Principles PAC | $2,746,295.33 | $0.00 | $1,818,000.00 | $4,564,295.33 |
| Laborers' Political League - Great Lakes Region | $2,345,342.74 | $0.00 | $0.00 | $2,345,342.74 |
| Citizens for Lisa Madigan | $2,137,044.04 | $0.00 | $0.00 | $2,137,044.04 |
| Illinois State Medical Society PAC | $399,945.90 | $1,230,136.00 | $0.00 | $1,630,081.90 |
| Carpenters Helping in the Political Process (CHIPP) | $1,483,716.29 | $0.00 | $0.00 | $1,483,716.29 |
| Stand for Children IL PAC | $1,372,305.91 | $0.00 | $0.00 | $1,372,305.91 |
| The Burnham Committee | $1,309,846.28 | $0.00 | $0.00 | $1,309,846.28 |
| Illinois PAC for Education (IPACE) | $1,164,664.87 | $0.00 | $0.00 | $1,164,664.87 |
| Citizens for Alderman Reilly | $1,006,703.57 | $0.00 | $29,000.00 | $1,035,703.57 |
| Cook County Democratic Party | $977,199.32 | $0.00 | $10,000.00 | $987,199.32 |
| REALTORS Political Action Committee | $943,064.66 | $0.00 | $4,000.00 | $947,064.66 |
| Roofers' Political Educational and Legislative Fund | $174,347.22 | $749,380.67 | $0.00 | $923,727.89 |
| Illinois Federation of Teachers COPE | $754,802.93 | $0.00 | $163,746.73 | $918,549.66 |
| Chicagoland Operators Joint Labor-Management PAC | $912,148.74 | $0.00 | $0.00 | $912,148.74 |
| Dan Rutherford Campaign Committee | $14,974.34 | $887,432.00 | $0.00 | $902,406.34 |
| Citizens for Judy Baar Topinka | $840,769.03 | $0.00 | $0.00 | $840,769.03 |
| Committee to Elect Joseph Berrios Assessor | $836,485.17 | $0.00 | $0.00 | $836,485.17 |
| Friends of Suarez | $72,823.28 | $750,000.00 | $0.00 | $822,823.28 |
| Citizens for Giannoulias | $779,764.79 | $0.00 | $0.00 | $779,764.79 |
| 14th Ward Regular Democratic Org | $722,156.15 | $0.00 | $0.00 | $722,156.15 |
| Laborers' Political Action and Education League | $720,332.88 | $0.00 | $0.00 | $720,332.88 |
| Friends of Anita Alvarez | $697,191.18 | $0.00 | $7,000.00 | $704,191.18 |
| Friends for Susana Mendoza | $674,701.28 | $0.00 | $4,738.71 | $679,439.99 |
The battle for the State House in 2016 is going to be intense. There is already almost $90 million in play, it will certainly eclipse the $100 million mark and may push to $150 million.
We will keep an eye on it for you and we'll keep you up to date. If you want to track all of these races and see the campaign fundraising totals in real-time subscribe to the Illinois Racing Form, it's only $15. We have been updating weekly but once the candidate objections are finalized we will probably set up the computer to publish an updated version daily, coming within the next week or two. For just $15 you can check to see the latest fundraising totals for every race every day. We put a lot of work into it so if you find this info in any way useful do us a favor and sign up.
Note: if you'd like to check my math or investigate and calculate further the data I used to create the tables above can be found here.
This cycle I am partnering with the Aldertrack team to help produce the Illinois Racing Form. You may remember during the 2015 Chicago Municipal elections Aldertrack produced a racing form that covered all 50 Chicago wards with ward maps, candidate listing and pictures, info about the candidates and candidate status. I was not involved in that project but I did purchase a copy, found it to be a terrific resource and recommended it to others so I am excited to be involved in this project this cycle.
The 2016 Illinois Racing Form
The 2016 Illinois Racing Form will be available starting Tuesday the 24th (the first day after candidate filing) and will cover all 177 state legislative districts (State House and State Senate). Every week we will update all the information and every Tuesday we will email the latest version of the Racing Form to subscribers. The Racing Form will include:
- District profiles for every district including district map, current candidate listing, candidate headshots and past electoral performance.
- Current financial status for each candidate's campaign committee as well as other relevant committees, such as the Governor, legislative leaders and IE's.
- Detailed tracking of candidate objections including objection info, hearing dates and parties involved to stay on top of current candidate status.
- Latest candidate filings.
- Candidates' social media presences, including websites, Facebook , LinkedIn and Twitter.
- Index of all the candidates.
Why You Should Buy The 2016 Illinois Racing Form
- It's a Tremendous Resource - the district profiles and the candidates listings alone make this product worth the cost. Print out the district profiles and candidate index and put them into a 3-ring binder on your desk. The next time you see someone mention a candidate or a district and your mind drifts off to "wait, which one was that again ..." you'll have a detailed answer available at your fingertips.
- The Focus on General Assembly Races Will Be Greater Than Ever Before - it has been almost 5 months since the State's fiscal year began without a budget and almost 6 months since the traditional deadline for passing a state budget elapsed. One of the underlying subtexts of the current budget impasse is the likely escalation in General Assembly races this cycle, the Governor has committed significant funds to improving the Republican party's chances and has made it a goal to increase his party's representation. This means that these races will likely have far greater focus than ever before and our Racing Form can help you track them.
- Stay On Top of the Campaign Funds Available - with so many races and so many different campaign committees potentially spending money on these races our funds available tracker can guide you as you try to predict who will spend money and where.
- Weekly Updates - do you need to keep track of these elections throughout? Let our weekly updates do the work for you.
- Proven Track Record - during the Chicago Municipal elections Aldertrack demonstrated that they can offer information of value in a usable format with timely updates. I was a consumer who was so impressed I decided to join them. And if you're a repeat visitor to this website you have likely found some information of use from me. Together I think this can be an effective team.
Updates - Illinois State Board of Elections
The omnibus election bill passed late last year requires that after election day each election authority must report the number of uncounted ballots to the State Board of Elections and the SBE must make this data available on their website. You may remember that the 2014 Illinois State Treasurer's race was too close to call after all of the ballots were counted on election night and the outcome of that race remained in doubt for some time as the vote by mail, early vote and same day registration votes had to be counted before the official winner was determined. Keeping track of the developments in that ballot counting process was difficult because in some cases it was difficult to get information about how many ballots still needed to be counted by each election authority. Hopefully this process will be easier to follow if a similar situation arises in the future as more data will be publicly available.
Since that law went into effect a special election was held to fill the vacancy in the 18th congressional district. In accordance with the new law each election authority sent the State Board of Elections the data about uncounted ballots and the SBE displayed this data on their website, as required. To navigate to this page on the Illinois State Board of Elections website you can go:
Home --> Reporters (top nav bar) --> Uncounted Ballots (center column)
Updates - Illinois Election Data
Over the last few months I have updated this website's various sections with data from both the 2014 general election as well as the 2015 Chicago municipal elections. Additionally I had long been planning to make changes to almost every part of this site and I finally put the work in to do that. Here is a rundown of all the new changes along with a detailed explanation for each.
- New Look and Feel: the visual layout and design of this website used to look like a 4 year old drew it in crayon. I have made wholesale changes and incorporated a modified version of the Bootstrap framework and it now looks more like a 9 year old drew it in washable marker, which I'm told is an improvement.
- 2014 Election Cycle Budgets: data now available in the budgets section for all of the 2014 election cycle statewide candidates as well as the targeted congressional races.
- 2014 Election Cycle Statewide Race Maps: maps now available in the maps section for all of the statewide candidates from the 2014 general election. For example here is the map of Bruce Rauner's victory by county.
- 2015 Chicago Municipal Election Maps (general and runoff): maps now available in the maps section for all of the Chicago municipal candidates from the 2015 general and runoff elections. For example here is the map of Rahm Emanuel's victory by ward in the runoff.
- New Budgets Back End: the budgets section is a tremendous tool for campaign managers (or designated budget staffers) that can display the past monthly campaign fundraising and spending for so many statewide and congressional races. All of this data used to be static, it was copied and pasted from database work done offsite. Now I have completely rebuilt this section using onsite data hosted in a backend database and the data displayed is derived from calculations run on that database. This work has two advantages, 1) fewer chances for copy/paste errors meaning the displayed data is more likely to be accurate and 2) for those users wishing to study the data more closely you can now quickly see all of the receipts and all of the expenditures in a table that is easy to filter and has a one-touch download button so you can easily download all of the individual transactions and perform whatever further analysis you would like on the underlying data.
- Reduced Reliance on Google: in order to get this site up and running when it was first launched I used a lot of Google tools to keep from having to do a lot of initial design work, for example I often embedded/displayed data in a Google Spreadsheet instead of displaying data in a formatted HTML table. It didn't look good then and later when Google made some changes to how they display embedded Google docs it looked even worse. I have since gone back and taken the time to fully develop each section and reduced the reliance on various Google tools and overall most areas are just better now. The lone key exception is the Maps section, all of the vote total maps are overlaid on Google Maps which is still by far my preferred method.
On Thursday the Tribune published a story detailing how the Rauner campaign purchased hundreds of thousands of dollars worth of gift cards and gave them to people who were helping to get out the vote without disclosing the recipients of the gift cards, in an apparent violation of campaign finance disclosure rules.
What Happened
On their year end quarterly filing the Rauner campaign disclosed a payment to IDT Payment Services of $257,604.75 on 10/24/2014 for "GOTV Labor". According to the Tribune this was for thousands of $25, $50 and $75 gift cards that were given to people helping with the campaign's get out the vote operation. However this was the only disclosure related to the gift cards, the individual recipients of the gift cards were not disclosed, though not all would necessarily be required to be disclosed as itemized expenditures.
Larry Noble, a former general counsel for the Federal Election Commission told the Tribune that these gift cards should be considered monetary compensation, "If they're giving them a debit card with value on it, that's payment to these people. You can't get around it," he said.
However the Rauner campaign maintains that their single disclosure for IDT Payment Systems was sufficient to comply with Illinois campaign disclosure rules telling the Tribune "The campaign reported the gift cards correctly," Sarah Clamp, a spokeswoman for Rauner's campaign, said in an email statement. "The campaign is only responsible for reporting when the campaign makes an expenditure and did this by reporting the purchase of gift cards."
Conduit Rule
The relevant section that appears to have been overlooked by the Rauner campaign is Section 100.70(c) of Board rules.
Section 100.70 Reports of Contributions and Expenditures
c) An expenditure to a payee who is in whole or in part only a conduit for payment to another, such as a political consultant, credit card issuer or Paypal, must include by way of detail or separate entry the amount of funds passing to each vendor, business entity or person receiving funds from the payment, together with the reason for each disbursement and the beneficiary of the disbursement. This provision shall not apply to a political consulting firm or political consultant, campaign worker, volunteer or political operative, etc., if the amount paid to that entity is less than $3,000 in aggregate during the quarterly reporting period. Nothing in this Section shall be construed to impose a reporting obligation on any person not otherwise required to report under Article 9 of the Election Code or to require the itemization of expenditures not otherwise required to be itemized under Article 9.
The conduits rule is what prevents campaigns from hiding the true recipient of expenditures by simply disclosing payments to an intermediary as was done with their disclosure of payment to IDT Payment Services. Most campaign finance compliance staffers quickly become familiar with this rule as it applies to credit card payments and payroll payments, forcing committees to disclose actual recipients of funds and not just show lump sum payments to either the credit card company or the payroll processing company.
History
The Rauner campaign should be familiar with the conduits rule having faced criticism previously for failing to abide by it with their previous payroll disclosures. In early 2014 Illinois Review reported that the Rauner campaign was not disclosing the the recipients of funds for payroll expenditures they were simply reporting lump sum payments to their payroll processing vendor Paylocity. Subsequently the State Board asked the Rauner campaign to file amended reports that complied with the conduits rule and the issue was resolved when they did so.
Record Keeping
Here is the relevant section of the campaign finance statute governing record keeping for expenditures:
5/9-7. Records and accounts. (1) Except as provided in subsection (2) the treasurer of a political committee shall keep a detailed and exact account of - (c) the total of all expenditures made by or on behalf of the committee; (d) the full name and mailing address of every person to whom any expenditure is made, and the date and amount thereof; (e) proof of payment, stating the particulars, for every expenditure made by or on behalf of the committee. The treasurer shall preserve all records and accounts required by this section for a period of 2 years.
If the Rauner campaign followed the law on recordkeeping for expenditures then they should have a record of the recipients of these gift cards.
Itemized Disclosure
Not all of the transactions to the recipients of these gift cards necessarily needs to be itemized on the quarterly financial disclosure. Here is the relevant section of the campaign finance statute governing itemized disclosure of expenditures:
5/9-11. Financial reports. (a) Each quarterly report of campaign contributions, expenditures, and independent expenditures under Section 9-10 shall disclose the following: (6) the name and address of each political committee from which the reporting committee received, or to which that committee made, any transfer of funds in the aggregate amount or value in excess of $150, together with the amounts and dates of all transfers; (7) the total sum of transfers made to or from the committee during the reporting period and not reported under item (6); (12) the full name and mailing address of each person to whom expenditures have been made by the committee or candidate within the reporting period in an aggregate amount or value in excess of $150; the amount, date, and purpose of each of those expenditures; and the question of public policy or the name and address of, and the office sought by, each candidate on whose behalf that expenditure was made; (13) the full name and mailing address of each person to whom an expenditure for personal services, salaries, and reimbursed expenses in excess of $150 has been made and that is not otherwise reported, including the amount, date, and purpose of the expenditure;
Any recipients of gift cards whose aggregate value was $150 or less would not have to appear in the itemized section of the expenditures disclosure, those totals should simply appear in the unitemized expenditures line item on the summary page. However for any person or political committee whose received an aggregate of more than $150 in the reporting period the Rauner campaign would be required to disclose those itemized expenditures.
Resolution
On my very first campaign I learned this lesson the hard way, I filed some reports that didn't follow the conduits rule and I had to go back and file amended reports. In speaking with the State Board staff at the time they told me that their emphasis was not on penalties it was simply to enforce disclosure. Once I filed those amended returns and the disclosure was proper the issue was closed. When the Rauner campaign faced the same issue with their payroll disclosures in early 2014 the matter was resolved once the campaign filed amended reports to comply with the conduits rule. The Board could take into account the past issue with the Rauner campaign and assess a fine but most likely an amended report will put the issue to bed. A Rauner staffer likely has some busy days ahead of them, it will be a lot of work to enter all of these transactions into the disclosure software but a lot of work is what the campaign finance rules require.
However if the Rauner campaign didn't keep records of these gift card recipients then that could be a much different, and likely more difficult situation.
Someone asked me for some help creating some maps similar to the vote total maps we have in our MAPS section. I wrote a tutorial for creating a very basic vote total map using Google Fusion Tables to display a Google Map showing the vote totals. This particular tutorial will create a map for Obama's 2012 Presidential performance by Chicago ward.
Included in the file are:
- A Word document with step by step instructions.
- A KML file with the Chicago ward boundaries.
- An Excel file with the vote totals.
- An HTML file with the example output.
Instead of writing my usual post mortem blog post on the election results for last week's mayor's race I agreed to work with the Illinois Campaign for Political Reform to perform a somewhat longer and more in-depth election analysis and write a comprehensive report.
One of the elements I found most interesting was that we were able to use US Census data to find a workable definition of the "Two Chicagos" message that the Garcia campaign focused on and one of the more surprising outcomes was that Emanuel did better than I expected among voters in this less affluent, more minority segment of city voters.
A few other interesting observations:
- The Garcia campaign was able to turnout more Hispanic voters in April, something that is very difficult to do, and voters in Hispanic majority precincts made up a greater raw total of new voters in April than voters in African American majority precincts despite the fact that the Hispanic voting population is far smaller. In April there were almost 26K more voters than February in Hispanic majority precincts compared to just under 23K more voters in African American majority precincts.
- Despite the impressive increase in voters from majority Hispanic precincts the increase in voters in white majority precincts was even greater. There were about 46K more voters in white majority precincts in April than in February.
- Also, despite the impressive increase in new voters in Hispanic majority precincts Emanuel maintained roughly the same level of support in these precincts from February to April. In February Emanuel had the support of about 34% of the voters in Hispanic majority precincts and in April that only fell to 33% in Hispanic majority precincts, so despite the increase in enthusiasm and turnout Emanuel still held on to his supporters.
Go read the whole thing, there is a full analysis on this "Two Chicagos" element, plus data on turnout, income, education and race.
