Pre-senting...
Cross-posted from ICPR's blog, The Race is On:
Now that the Pre-Elections are in, we have a much better sense of which races are pulling in the most money. Recalling the usual caveat that the biggest spenders aren't necessarily the biggest vote getters, here's our count of where the candidates are, as of this morning; these figures count cash on hand January 1, 2005 and all money raised since then. These are also moving targets; by the time you read this, they're out of date. But here goes:
Goobs:
Topinka: $2.9M
Brady: $1.7M
Oberweis: $3.4M
Gidwitz: $10.7M
UPDATE: Andy for Illinois filed a Pre and an A1 on paper, both showing $75K in receipts. The Pre lacked the supporting documents, so I can't be sure it's not the same $75K, though the dates of the reports would suggest that it's two different $75K loans. Those would put his receipts at $172.5K
Blago: $17.7M
Eisendrath: $1.3M
Lt Gov:
Wegman: $255K
Birkett: $879K
Bruckner: $10K
Rauschenberger: $788K
Note that much of Birkett's and Rauschenberger's funds come from their running mate; don't count them together or you'll likely be double counting.
Treasurer:
Giannoulias: $2M
Mangieri: $307K
The top legislative races appear to be:
1) Hultgren/Furetenau - $598K
2) Sandoval/Garza - $481K
3) Kotowski/Morici - $469K
4) Jenisch/Coladipietro - $373K
5) Ramey/Fenner/Fuesting - $324K (note that this is a 3-way)
Note that that's combined fundraising; individual totals vary.
And for folks in Cook County:
Board President:
Claypool: $2.7M
Stroger: $3.2M (counting his three committees; looking only at the one he seems to be using for this year's primaries, he's showing $1.4M, but the others have another $1.9M available)
One more caveat: there are other candidates seeking another party's nomination for some of these same seats, but where their primary was uncontested, I didn't list them.
3 comments:
How much of Stroger's money is grandfathered so that he could pay the taxes and personally cash in?
Bloblo-
Great question! The grandfather clause on the ban on personal use applies to funds raised before June 30, 1998. The State Board of Elections reads that to mean that a candidate can pull out funds up to the amount on hand on June 30, 1998, even if the balance dipped lower in the interim. (note that it's the IRS that demands that taxes be paid, not the SBE) That would mean that John Stroger could sieze $284K from Stroger for President, $618K from Citizens for Stroger, and $217K from 8th Ward Regular Democratic Organization (which he chairs). There's a theory that some candidates salt away their pre-98 money for the purpose bloblo suggests, though I can't say if Stroger subscribes to that thinking. The late Paul Simon likened personal use as the closest thing to legalized bribery allowed, but many pols have and continue to take their PAC funds for themselves.
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