* Treasurer Dan Rutherford’s gubernatorial campaign filed its D-2 yesterday. Rutherford reported raising $392,583.25 in the quarter and had $1,369,468.52 cash on hand.

* Sun-Times…

Since Rutherford was the first gubernatorial candidate to file ahead of a Wednesday deadline to file quarterly campaign-disclosure reports, it was too early to tell how his warchest stacked up against other funds in the four-way Republican primary, including that belonging to wealthy private equity investor Bruce Rauner.

Rauner has pumped $2.24 million of his own funds into his campaign as of early January.

“We have a large number of contributors, unlike Rauner, who has large contributions,” Rutherford spokesperson Brian Sterling said. “We get letters every day from people who support Dan. What he’s doing is certainly more on the grassroots level, so if you look from that perspective, we’re doing good.”

The highest individual contribution among the $392,583 that rolled in to Rutherford’s campaign during the three-month period came from the T-N-T Truck and Trailer Service, a Lincoln-based roadside assistance business, which gave $20,500. One of the company’s bus operators, Paul Smith, also contributed $10,000.

* Rauner, by the way, filed an A-1 the other day which included this disclosure…

So, his statewide “Shake Up Express” tour bus was a loaner from a multi-millionaire real estate developer. That fits.

* And speaking of Rauner’s bus tour…

Farren’s, at 308 N. Randolph St., was listed on Rauner’s campaign itinerary as the last of seven Champaign stops Friday.

But no one had checked with Farren’s owner Carolyn Farren. She stopped Rauner from coming into the crowded restaurant.

“I introduced myself. He introduced himself and I said, ‘I’m sorry but you’re not going to be allowed to come in and campaign here. I had no advance knowledge of this event. It wasn’t cleared with me,’” Farren recalled. “I said, ‘It’s not because you’re a Republican or a Democrat. It has nothing to do with a political party. I just said that our restaurant is not a place for political campaigning.’ He was nice.”

       

22 Comments - Big Debbie - Wednesday, Jan 15, 14 @ 9:43 am: Remember where you read about Rauner’s botched campaign stop first, Big Debbie’s House: http://bigdebshouse.wordpress.com/2014/01/12/rauner-campaign-stop-not-welcome-at-local-small-business/ - Robert the Bruce - Wednesday, Jan 15, 14 @ 9:44 am: It’ll be interesting to see what Rutherford puts on TV. While not Rauner cash, he does have enough money for a pretty good buy, and he might be the only other candidate with enough cash. - Cassiopeia - Wednesday, Jan 15, 14 @ 9:56 am: Rutherford has decent cash on hand. I still think he will end up in the driver’s seat after the primary especially if he keeps out of the mudfest. He should receive a significant vote from teacher and state retirees, many of whom are Democrats and may well cross over and vote for him. These voters are not factored into anyones tabulations and will be self-motivated. There are already little localized groupings of retired teachers who are organizing this retiree backlash voting. - wordslinger - Wednesday, Jan 15, 14 @ 9:59 am: John Buck must have a pretty fancy touring bus if the rent is $32,500. Buck’s a big-time Michigan Avenue real estate developer. What does he use the bus for? - DuPage - Wednesday, Jan 15, 14 @ 10:00 am: Rauner would have less trouble with a lot of small restaurants. He could rent out the whole place for a few hours with pocket change of a few thousand $$$. - concern1 - Wednesday, Jan 15, 14 @ 10:07 am: Good foe Carolyn Farren in stoping rauner now if we could get the rest of the state to do the same thing!!!!! - Oswego Willy - Wednesday, Jan 15, 14 @ 10:07 am: Dillard and Brady can’t afford the “free download” documents to say they have no cash, let alone… have cash on hand. - walker - Wednesday, Jan 15, 14 @ 10:09 am: Big Debbie: Do you have an additional point to make? - Cassandra - Wednesday, Jan 15, 14 @ 10:15 am: Voting is nice, but I expect money is better at this point from the unhappy retirees and future retirees. Lots of money. - Arthur Andersen - Wednesday, Jan 15, 14 @ 10:41 am: word, those fancy busses go from low six figures to over a million, believe it or not. I’ve seen a couple that are snazzier than my house, except the head is not too spacious. Assuming Buck is not a secret RV travel buff, the firm may use it to take clients/investors on property tours. - Soccermom - Wednesday, Jan 15, 14 @ 10:42 am: Can’t Rauner afford experienced advance staff? - Big Debbie - Wednesday, Jan 15, 14 @ 10:56 am: Yes. From the Kacich article: ===Rauner spokesman Mike Schrimpf said the campaign put the downtown restaurant on its list of stops Friday without checking with the owners. “We had heard Farren’s has great burgers and could be a good place to stop in. The owner said she’d prefer if we didn’t come in, so we kept driving. No hard feelings on our end,” Schrimpf said.=== Anyone else find that odd? The Rauner campaign sees nothing wrong with just showing up to a small business while it is open and expecting them to welcome a Rauner campaign stop? That is a very odd way of doing it I think. - dupage dan - Wednesday, Jan 15, 14 @ 11:21 am: Rutherford looks like the only credible candidate to take on Rauner. He could even pay for the t-shirts OW has developed. He could give them out to patrons at those little restaurants Rauner keeps trying to crash. - GulfVet - Wednesday, Jan 15, 14 @ 12:21 pm: I guess Brady is going to wait until 11:59pm to file. My guess it is going to be embarrassing so he is holding off as long as possible. OW said it perfectly ! : Oswego Willy - Wednesday, Jan 15, 14 @ 10:07 am: Dillard and Brady can’t afford the “free download” documents to say they have no cash, let alone… have cash on hand. - Montrose - Wednesday, Jan 15, 14 @ 12:51 pm: *Anyone else find that odd? The Rauner campaign sees nothing wrong with just showing up to a small business while it is open and expecting them to welcome a Rauner campaign stop? That is a very odd way of doing it I think.* My gut says someone dropped the ball on the advance and this is their spin. Maybe that is wishful thinking. - Jimbo - Wednesday, Jan 15, 14 @ 1:50 pm: Cass, why would teachers, who are Democrats ever vote for Rauner? Are you mad? My stepmother is a teacher and believe me, even her Republican coworkers are terrified of him. - Jimbo - Wednesday, Jan 15, 14 @ 1:51 pm: Sorry Cass. I missed Rutherford in your comment. Yes, I can see teachers supporting him. Again, sorry. - Samurai - Wednesday, Jan 15, 14 @ 2:16 pm: All the criticism about lack of funds is ironic. Is’nt there a companion reform to term limits having to do with campaign contribution limits? Not that I favor either, though lack of funding may be a serious obstacle to a campaign, good candidates are locked out. So, here we have Bruce Rauner the billionaire and Dan Rutherford who has shamelessly converted the Office of Illinois Treasurer to his campaign operation for the last several years. tweet that. - Empty Chair - Wednesday, Jan 15, 14 @ 4:45 pm: Looks like Rauner uses a Kentucky law firm for his campaign finance compliance: http://elections.il.gov/CampaignDisclosure/CDPdfViewer.aspx?FiledDocID=522581&DocType=Image - Quarterly - Wednesday, Jan 15, 14 @ 5:17 pm: Actually, Brady filed his D-2 at 4:54pm today. It shows he raised like $72 ( ! ) and spent nothing the last quarter - leaving a little more than $ 200,000+ in his ‘warchest’. He is either brilliant or really hurting. - justsayin' - Wednesday, Jan 15, 14 @ 5:38 pm: John Buck - from what I recall - was the second main contributor to Proft’s “Liberty Principles PAC” (whatev) when it was formed last minute to help Proft’s candidates in 2012. Uihlein was the other. Daddy give me some sugar… - Just The Way It Is One - Wednesday, Jan 15, 14 @ 7:56 pm: Well, with 1.4 Million in his Coffers at this point, I must say that I honestly think Rutherford still has a shot at pulling this thing off, a decent shot–if he spends it wisely, both forwarding his own Agenda while obviously also needing to spend some on holding down Mr. Deep Pockets/Big Spender Brucie…! Sorry, comments for this post are now closed.