2006 Judicial Contests: Same Interests, Different Result, Same Outcome?

Cross-posted from ICPR's blog, The Race is On:

Fundraising in the Fifth District Appellate Court race, as in the last Fifth District Supreme Court race, was dominated by tort interests. In both races, the Republican drew most of his resources from national tort reform organizations, often funneled through the state Party, while the Democrat drew most of his resources from personal injury plaintiff's lawyers, sometimes funneled through the state Party. Unlike in 2004, this time it appears that the Democrat won. But once again, voters in the area were subjected to an aerial barrage of negative attack ads that ultimately undermine the stature of the judiciary. And tort cases make up only a small part of the Court's docket.

Illinois' campaign finance laws require disclosure only; there are no limits on how much interests can give. In reaction to the 2004 Supreme Court race, the legislature changed the laws about giving by non-profits. But this race makes plain that donors can continue to mask their identity. The American Justice Partnership gave $305K directly to one candidate without disclosing where they raised that money. Unless the AJP discloses its donors, these contributions may be in violation of Illinois law. But giving by the Institute for Legal Reform and plaintiff's lawyers to the state parties, most of which quickly made its way to the candidates, apparently broke no state rules, even though it effectively shielded the original source of the money. Illinois law does not provide adequate oversight of conduits to make disclosure work in a timely manner.

Other judicial contests fit the pattern, though we're still crunching the numbers. Below are preliminary tallies for the Fifth District Appellate Court race; final counts won't be available until early next year. Late contributions, some of which may include pass through money, might not be reported until early next year. Several pass through donors, including the state parties and JUSTPAC, were involved in more than one judicial race.


Top Contributors to McGlynn from posted Pre-Election Reports and A-1’s
$10,000 or More 7/1/2006 – Midnight 11/7/2006

Total Reported Fundraising by McGlynn: $2,239,808

Top Donors to McGlynn


Apl5 McGlynn, Stephen $1,204,000 Illinois Republican Party
Apl5 McGlynn, Stephen $305,000 American Justice Partnership
Apl5 McGlynn, Stephen $201,000 JUSTPAC
Apl5 McGlynn, Stephen $120,000 American Tort Reform Association
Apl5 McGlynn, Stephen $40,000 Illinois Chamber of Commerce PAC
Apl5 McGlynn, Stephen $15,805 Illinois State Medical Society PAC

Money Available for pass through to McGlynn (these donors were also active in other judicial races)

IL State Rep Party $1,875,000 Institute for Legal Reform

JUSTPAC $140,000 American Tort Reform Association
JUSTPAC $100,000 American Justice Partnership
JUSTPAC $60,000 Illinois Chamber Political Action Committee
JUSTPAC $25,000 Metropolitan Life Insurance Company
JUSTPAC $25,000 Caterpillar Inc
JUSTPAC $20,000 Pfizer Pac
JUSTPAC $17,000 Reagan Club of Illinois
JUSTPAC $11,000 Cassens Transport
JUSTPAC $10,000 Peoples Energy PAC
JUSTPAC $10,000 Allstate Insurance Company

Top Contributors to Stewart from posted Pre-Election Reports and A-1’s
$10,000 or more 7/1/2006 – Midnight 11/7/2006

Total Reported Fundraising by Stewart: $1,047,221

Top Donors to Stewart

Apl5 Stewart, Bruce $314,366 Democratic Party of Illinois
Apl5 Stewart, Bruce $58,290 Southern & Central Illinois Laborers
Apl5 Stewart, Bruce $32,000 M & R Testing Company/Ronald Osman
Apl5 Stewart, Bruce $16,050 Illinois Federation of Teachers COPE
Apl5 Stewart, Bruce $15,000 Power Rogers & Smith PC
Apl5 Stewart, Bruce $15,000 Corboy & Demetrio PC
Apl5 Stewart, Bruce $15,000 Cooney and Conway
Apl5 Stewart, Bruce $15,000 Clifford Law Offices PC
Apl5 Stewart, Bruce $12,500 Market Street Bancshares Inc.
Apl5 Stewart, Bruce $12,075 12th CD DemState Central Com Fund
Apl5 Stewart, Bruce $10,916 Womick Law Firm Chartered
Apl5 Stewart, Bruce $10,660 Keefe, Jr., Thomas Q
Apl5 Stewart, Bruce $10,000 IL State AFL CIO COPE
Apl5 Stewart, Bruce $10,000 Callis, Lance
Apl5 Stewart, Bruce $10,000 Anesi Ozmon Rodin Novak & Kohen Ltd
Apl5 Stewart, Bruce $10,000 AFSCME Illinois Council 31
Apl5 Stewart, Bruce $10,000 Foote Meyers Mielke & Flowers LLC
Apl5 Stewart, Bruce $10,000 Simmons-Cooper

Money Available for pass through to Stewart (these donors were also active in other judicial races)


Democratic Party of IL $50,000 Thomas Q. Keefe Jr. PC
Democratic Party of IL $50,000 Diab & Bock
Democratic Party of IL $50,000 Simmons Cooper LLC
Democratic Party of IL $25,000 Korein Tillery LLC
Democratic Party of IL $15,000 Freed & Weiss LLC
Democratic Party of IL $15,000 ILTrial Lawyers Association PAC

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Sprout

The Democratic steamroll was the big news of the day in Illinois, but not unsurprising given the overshadowing unpopularity of Pres. George W. Bush. The other big story of the day is that Green Party candidate Rich Whitney garnered 10% of the vote statewide, while spending less than $40,000. Whitney's performance -- and the loyalty of Whitney supporters -- could redefine the political battle between the two major parties in Illinois over the next four years.

I think the loyalty of the Green voters tells us they weren't simply voting against Topinka and Blagjevich out of disgust (an assumption that I and many others made and got wrong) but actually hold to some core reform values and are willing to back candidates that reflect them. There is a reform movement sprouting in Illinois.

Yes, the Green Party has secured it's place on the ballot, but don't look for them to put forward a winning statewide ticket in four years, unless they can recruit a self-funded candidate who can also carry the reform mantle. Instead, what is more likely to happen is what usually happens when a reform movement sprouts from a third party: one of the major parties co-opts their agenda and the third party fades into the history books. Clinton's ability to pass Ross Perot's balanced budget is a great example. Look for Democrats and Republicans to woo those reform voters by putting forth their own reform agendas.

The ball is clearly in Democrats' court. If they can pass a government ethics reform agenda and an education reform agenda -- the top two issues of the Whitney campaign -- they will have a lock on Illinois for years to come. If Democrats stumble, Republicans will have the opportunity to make the case that Democrats are obstacles to reform. Of course, Republicans had the opportunity to make that case this year and blew it, in part because their education funding proposals were half-hearted, and also because their candidates were not credible on the ethics issues: Topinka, Rutherford and Radogno all tried to make ethics central issues in their campaigns, and in each case those efforts blew up in their faces because of their ties -- however tenuous -- to the GOP's corrupt past.

For Republicans to take advantage of any Democratic shortcomings, they must clean house and put forth a slate of fresh faces. It's a Herculean task, one that I'm not sure Republicans are up to. Still, Democrats would be wise to nip that opportunity in the bud by advancing a reform agenda, and should look carefully at Whitney's performance by legislative district to see where there are opportunities to add to their legislative lead. Start recruiting candidates now, force Republican incumbents to vote on key wedge issues now -- like the assault weapons ban, school funding reform, utility rate freeze -- and give yourself 18 months instead of three to build winning campaigns across the state. Given the huge money advantage Democrats should have and the Presidential turn-out advantage for Democrats, Democrats could pick up as many as half-a-dozen seats in the House and 1-2 more in the Senate in 2008.

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Todd projected to Win

With 78% of the precincts reporting, Illinois Shadow is projecting Todd the Stoller the winner in the race for Cook County Board President.

“Crying Tony needs to swallow the hard truth. He lost…Jr. won,” declared Burt Nobles, supervisor of the Cook County election board.

Upon hearing the sad news, six Peraica 1099 contract workers, and one small child, marched to the Chicago Tribune demanding to “let us in” .

“How can we not get elected? Obviously, the Tribune failed us,” said five-year-old Dan Proft. “The Tribune Company had the ability to rename the paper the Chicago Peraica, and they did nothing.”

A stunned Bruce Dolt muttered something about falling circulation and then mentioned his multi-colored socks that he wears on election night.

Stunned and confused, Proft told reporters that they would continue to march, and eventually, blame every Chicago institution for Crying Tony’s loss.

“Don’t think the Art Institute is blameless,” said Proft. “Yeah, like they have real art inside. It is a front for the machine, and we know it.”

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This was the Machine rolling

Beavers in the Sun Times,

"This was the Machine rolling," said Ald. William Beavers (7th), who has been Stroger's muscle and who won his own seat Tuesday on the County Board.

I think it's going to turn out to be a very tough time for Liberals and Progressives in Illinois.

Here's Madigan's Steve Brown in the Trib,

"It's a good referendum on Democratic policies," Brown said.

Under the trio of Chicago Democrats—Jones, Madigan and Gov. Rod Blagojevich—the social agenda over the last four years included laws bolstering gay rights, requiring equal pay for women and increasing the minimum wage—something the governor made clear he hoped to do again.

As Illinois politics sinks under indictments and fiscal crisis, they're going to have to ask themselves if the deal with the rolling Machine was worth it, because these prizes look only symbolic to me. The getting-in-bed with the Machine will make them pay an awful price, starting with scandals that will continue to tarnish Obama's national bid.

As for the GOP, when your at the bottom, the only way is up. I just wish JBT had said early on she was badly mistaken about Peter Fitzgerald.

xp Bill Baar's West Side

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It's time to stop collecting campaign cash. Time to lead by example.

Cross-posted from ICPR's blog, The Race is On:

A coalition of eight reform organizations challenged Gov. Rod Blagojevich on Wednesday to work as hard at passing sweeping campaign reforms as he did at winning reelection.

The coalition called on Blagojevich to dissolve his campaign committee as quickly as possible and to impose a moratorium on his own campaign fundraising until the General Assembly passes the campaign finance reform legislation proposed by Blagojevich 18 months ago.

"The election is over and Gov. Blagojevich should turn his attention immediately to bringing fairness to the state's election system and honesty to government," said Cynthia Canary, Director of the Illinois Campaign for Political Reform (ICPR). "Creating ethics commissions and inspectors generals was an important reform in his first term, but Gov. Blagojevich's pledge to 'rock the system' with campaign finance reform proved to be nothing but empty rhetoric."

In addition to ICPR, the coalition includes the Better Government Association, the League of Women Voters of Illinois, Protestants for the Common Good, Illinois Common Cause, Citizen Advocacy Center, Illinois PIRG and the Sunshine Project.

"During his first campaign, Gov. Blagojevich ran on a reform agenda," said Terry Pastika, Director of the Citizen Advocacy Center. "During his second campaign, Gov. Blagojevich defiantly stated his 'campaign practices are by the book.' Unfortunately, playing by the book offers no reassurance to voters when the system is broken. By dissolving his campaign committee and imposing a political fundraising moratorium on himself, until he passes his proposed campaign finance reforms, Gov. Blagojevich can lead by example."

"It is time for him to put the Blagojevich fundraising machine in storage and to put the full force of his persuasive powers behind convincing legislators to enact the campaign financing reforms he says he favors," said Rev. Jennifer Kottler, Deputy Director of Protestants for the Common Good. "If trust in our system is to be restored, and it must, the Governor must lead by example. Our elected officials must be seen as moral public servants; the perception cannot be that they are bought and paid for by special interests."

"For more than a year, the governor has told voters he backs legislation that would end 'pay to play' in state government by banning all campaign contributions by corporations and labor unions and setting limits on how much individuals can contribute to campaigns," said Jay Stewart, Executive Director of the Better Government Association. "The Governor's proposal mirrored much of what the reform community has advocated for years. Unfortunately, he didn't do anything to try to pass it in the General Assembly."

"At the time, the Governor was sitting on a $10 million campaign treasury, and legislators viewed his plan as disingenuous and a buffer against scandals that have become the focus of federal investigations," said Kent Redfield, Director of the Sunshine Project. "But by dissolving his campaign committee and imposing a moratorium on his own fundraising, the playing field will be leveled, and there can be a legitimate opportunity to change the rules of campaigning in Illinois."

"If he should decide to run for a third term in the 2010 election, he and all the candidates should do so under a new system," said Paula Lawson, President of the League of Women Voters of Illinois. "If Illinois enacts these sweeping reforms, he could end the moratorium and begin raising funds under the new rules, like all other candidates."

Here are some of the key elements of the Governor's 2005 proposal (SB1822):

Prohibit campaign contributions by corporations and labor unions, a ban already in place at the federal level and in most states.
Limit contributions by individuals to $2,000 per candidate in each election and $5,000 to political action committees and political parties.
Place a ceiling of $40,000 on the aggregate of contributions by an individual in any election cycle.
Limit contributions by political action committees to $5,000 per candidate in each election.
Increase the detail of personal financial information to be made public by state officials.
Increase public information about lobbyists' contracts and activities.
Require a one-year wait before retiring legislators and former state employees could become lobbyists.
Increase enforcement powers of the State Board of Elections, require audits of campaign finance reports filed by candidates and PACs, and require quarterly disclosure of campaign contributions by candidates.

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McSweeney Not Doing Well Enough in McHenry County to Win Contest

My rule of thumb is that a Republican needs to win 60% of the vote in 2-way statewide contest to have a chance of winning statewide.

David McSweeney, Republican challenger to Congresswoman Melissa Bean, is trailing Bean by 48 votes. Bean has 10,711 votes, ahead of McSweeney's 10,663.

The percentage spread is 46.72% for Bean to 46.51% for McSweeney.

Moderate anti-war Party candidate Bill Scheurer, who, has garnered 1,528 votes, 6.66% of the vote.

Only 2 of the 69 McHenry County precincts have not reported in.

Assuming that Scheuer does as well in Lake and Cook Counties as he is in McHenry County, those who wish to run for partisan office as a member of the Moderate Party will be able to do so without gathering enormous numbers of signatures.

I believe it was a bad day for Republicans," McSweeney repeated again and again on Channel 7 after conceding.

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Walkin’ Around Money in St. Clair County?

Just wondering.

Looking at the big money being reported to the State Board of Elections today and up popped

· $10,000 for the St. Clair County Democratic Central Committee from the Larkin law firm,
· $10,000 from Korein Tillery,
· $5,000 from the Illinois Pipes Trade PAC and
· $5,000 from Bruce Cook.

Undoubtedly some readers know who these folks are.

Given the convictions for buying votes in the 2004 election, I wonder where this late money is going.

And, there’s a lot more from local candidates committees last week.

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Today's the day - UPDATED

Cross-posted from ICPR's blog, The Race is On:

All of the ads, all of the fundraising, all of the campaign speeches and policy papers and soundbites and debates all come down to one thing: Election Day. If you haven't voted already, and media reports suggest that thousands of Illinoisans have voted early this time, the polls are open now until 7 pm this evening. The State Board of Elections' website can help you get in touch with your local election authority, who can help you find your polling place.

NOTE: Sporadic problems in polling places in Cook and Kane counties have resulted in at least two court orders that polling places be held open beyond the statutory 7 pm closing time. It is highly unusual for polling places to remain open beyond 7 pm, and most polling places will likely close at the regular time. However, if you think you might be late to the polls, contact your local election authority, to see if your polling place is among those that will stay open late.

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Does It Ever Get Too Weird? Stay Tuned!

John Ruskin over at Illinois Review posted an article from the Chicago Tribune that studied the growing influence of the Unification Church among African American Churches in Chicago with the formation of the American Clergy Leadership Conference.
Very fine articles and good balanced coverage by reporters Alexander and Ramierez.

Last spring the Chicago Tribune studied the Unification Church's Fish Empire and its place in Chicago. Moon sure sells some tuna! Interesting stuff, especially when one considers the high regard Chicago's progressive community places on the man who crowned the old Rev. and his Missus way back in 2004. The Rhetorically Challenged Congressman, Danny K. Davis, is a long time friend of the powerful Korean Jimmy Swaggert. If progressive means hooking up to a religion that calls for the cross to be buried out back and thinks that 'eventually' the skin of African Americans will be less black, hold the phone Cupcake!

With important Aldermanic elections following close on the heels of this latest embarrassment of an election. It might be a good time for voters to connect some dots. The Artificial Grassroots Travelling Show seems to be gearing up to unseat some incumbants - I know some progressive activists and blogers who are taking a serious run at finding posers and suits to fill as reform candidates. As the old saying goes ' Who's with you?' My neighbors will call the tune in my Ward. We have our own home grown nut-bags and they are harmless real estate speculators. To the good folks bagging their carpets for another trip south to 'change the direction of the country' - meet the neighbors, they'll be gracious and welcoming; they probably won't make eye contact. That's a Good thing.



http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A61932-2004Jun22.html

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Unopposed Franks' Stake in Nov. 7th

This summer and fall, State Rep. Jack Franks has been knocking on doors for two women—Congresswoman Melissa Bean and his former employee Mary Margaret Maule, who is running for county board from McHenry north.

Franks told me he would have knocked on doors in every precinct before election day.

And I heard he sent an endorsement mailing for Maule this past weekend.

Franks political action committee and his father have provided almost one-fourth of the money that Maule has reported receiving--$2,250.

The Republican incumbent that has been targeted is McHenry’s Pete Merkel. Merkel thinks that Maule’s main argument, that he holds two public jobs, is straight from Franks.

With Franks and the GOP having seemingly cut a non-aggression deal in which neither he nor Crystal Lake’s Mike Tryon. Franks has used his time and resources to help other Democrats.

Even though I think one of her leading issues—using the public animal shelter money for the private Turning Point—shows a lack of understanding of the functions of county government, it will still make sense to many people. Several of her issues are quite legitimate ones, e.g., the “belly up” loan made by the county board and covered up from December 1st until after the primary election and the sign ordinance for small businesses in unincorporated areas.

Even the double- dipping charge has been used successfully in McHenry County and may work today. When Patricia Floeter ran against County Board Chairwoman Dianne Klemm, Floeter won, in my opinion, with her anti-double-dipping signs. I really wonder why Maule didn’t use a similar campaign technique. Of course, she may not have been a resident back then.

This is not to say that Maule herself has not run an excellent campaign. She told me the third week of September that she thought she had knocked on 5,000 doors. She certainly could have added at least a thousand since then.

If she wins, she can take great pride in her accomplishment.

If she loses, because of her close identification with her employment by Jack Franks, State Rep. Jack Franks will have lost, too.

Who else but McHenry County Blog would look at county board races like this. More on the Perry Moy race, too.

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Fundraising Update 11/6

Cross posted from ICPR's blog, The Race is On:

Recent campaign finance reports show that, as of 4pm today, a 10th legislative contest has crossed the $1 million threshold. With the addition of the 101st District contest between incumbent Bob Flider and challenger Dick Cain, five contests for House seats and five for Senate seats have candidates with combined fundraising in excess of $1,000,000. Previous elections have seen no more than 7 contests cost that much. The expensive races are:

52nd Senate (Myers/Frerichs/Parnarauskis): $1.9M
49th Senate (Richey/Demuzio): $1.6M
34th Senate (Syverson/Lewandowski): $1.2M
42nd Senate (Wintermute/Holmes): $1.1M
22nd Senate (Roth/Noland): $1.1M

107th House (Granberg/Cavaletto): $1.7M
92nd House (Spears/Schock): $1.4M
91st House (Smith/Dagit): $1.4M
71st House (Boland/Haring): $1.3M
101st House (Flider/Cain): $1.1M

The 5th District Appellate Court race continues to grow. Appointed incumbent Steve McGlynn holds a 2:1 fundraising advantage, but Circuit Court judge Bruce Stewart reported $50K over the weekend. Combined, the race stands at $3.3M since the candidates declared. So far, the Illinois Republican Party has given McGlynn $1.2M, while spending just $300K on Judy Baar Topinka, their nominee for governor. The McGlynn spending came in two donations, each made within days of receiving comparable infusions from a U.S. Chamber organization, the Institute for Legal Reform.

Other observations:

* Most legislative leaders seem to have put a little money behind each of their candidates. House Republican Leader Tom Cross is the exception: he put two really big bets on challengers ($200K to Steve Haring and $138K to John Cavaletto) rather than give middling amounts to all of the candidates he's been supporting. We'll see tomorrow how that worked for him.

* Rep. Mike McAuliffe reported $719.49 from the House Republican Campaign Committee for "payroll." Former House Republican Leader Lee Daniels shuttered the old HRCC last January; HRCC showed no expenditure that would account for this listing. It's probably HRO giving to McAuliffe, who just got nostalgic about the name.

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Marathon Pundit Ill. gubernatorial race prediction: A win by Topinka

First of all, if you want a good rundown on predictions in other races, I recommend Richard Baehr's prognostications in the American Thinker.

Baehr made no prediction in the Ill. gubernatorial race.

I'm going out on a limb--although I admit I'm biased--by predicting a narrow victory by Republican Judy Baar Topinka and her running mate, Joe Birkett. Why? After all, only one poll, by Copley, has Judy reasonably close, trailing incumbent Rod Blagojevich and his running mate, Patrick Quinn, by four percentage points.

In some polls, but not the Copley one, Green Party candidate Rich Whitney has crossed the double-digit threshold of poll support. But that was before this weekend's revelation that Whitney was less than forthcoming about his past leadership role in the Socialist Labor Party. Look for Whitney's election day support--the only one that counts--to trickle down to about five percent.

Where will that protest vote--and really, that's what's Whitney's support has been--go to? To Topinka. Some voters may hold their nose while doing it, but Judy will get the majority of the former Green vote. After all, the recent news stories with the names of disgraced Blagojevich fundraisers such as Stuart Levine and Tony Rezko are still bouncing around the heads of Illinois voters.

The last words I'll leave to Blagojevich--from his 2003 inaugural address:

I will govern as a reformer.

Blagojevich lied, and Illinoisans will hold him accountable.

To comment on this and other posts, please visit Marathon Pundit.

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