More A1 Reports
Cross posted from ICPR's blog, The Race is On:
A1 season is well underway and the money flows are beginning to tell a story
We flagged the giving from Stand for Children earlier this week. The group formed a political committee in Illinois just last month, and has yet to file any of their own disclosure reports. Look for the Pre-Election Report, due within the next 10 days, to show where all of their cash came from.
We’ve seen a number of very large checks from individuals this week. Don Wilson, a commodities trader in Chicago, gave $50K to the House Republicans. Suzanne Murray, a “homemaker” from Chicago, gave $50K to Lisa Madigan. And spouses Ann Dias Griffin of Aragon Global Management and Kenneth Griffin of Citadel each gave $50K to Bill Brady's campaign. Kenneth Griffin also gave another $25K each to state rep candidates Lenkowski, Montelongo, and Oliver, plus $25K to the House Republican Organization. That's $200K from the couple this week. Donations of this size from individuals will become illegal on January 1, so this may be a last hurrah for this sort of giving (indeed, Ms. Murray made her debut in the campaign disclosure reports with her contribution).
The Illinois Fairness Fund, which supports legal recognition of gay couples, gave $25K to the Senate Democratic Victory Fund. The Fairness Fund formed last December and raised $80K in the first half of the year, including $25K from Laura Rickets, $15K from Robert Kohl and $10K each from Heather Steans, Tim Gill, Sarah Schmidt, and Henry Van Ameringen.
The Democratic Party of Illinois shows $230K to candidates including state Reps. Farnham, Mussman, Flider, Sente, McAsey, and Jehan Gordon. The Illinois Republican Party doesn’t appear in the A1s yet. And the House Republican Organization (DPI has also served as Speaker Madigan’s caucus committee) is under $5K in transfers out to candidates this week. We'll know better what happened last week when those Pre-Election reports come in.
SEIU shows almost $200K out to candidates, net of internal transfers. Recipients include state Reps. Rita, Jakobsson, Brauer, and Mike Smith, along with Quinn/Simon and Toni Preckwinkle (who, if you’re not from Cook County, is the Dem nominee for Board President).
A1s will come in for the next month or so. Pre-election reports are due in less than two weeks. Keep an eye on the reports, and let us know if you see anything interesting.
To comment or to see more posts on campaign finance disclosures in the final weeks before the 2010 General Election, please visit ICPR's blog.
