Latest Post | Last 10 Posts | Archives
Previous Post: Undoing some lousy “reforms”
Next Post: Question of the day
Posted in:
20-year-incumbent Rep. John Shimkus, R-Collinsville, raised more than $1.3 million last year and had about $1.37 million on hand in his campaign account at the end of 2015, according to his FEC filing. […]
Shimkus’s opponent in the March 15 Illinois primary is state Sen. Kyle McCarter. He raised about $141,000 last year, but about $60,000 of it came from a personal loan, according to his newest campaign reports. McCarter, who has attacked Shimkus as not conservative enough for the district and for going back on a term-limit promise when first elected, had about $87,000 cash in his campaign accounts at the end of last year.
McCarter did raise that much, but it appears that he has to give a big chunk of it back.
Check out his FEC filing. McCarter received money from corporations, which is still not allowed. He’s already identified about $13,000 in corporate contributions as “refund pending” on his FEC report, but some other possible corporate contributions, totaling by my eye somewhere near $8,000, aren’t identified as such.
He also accepted a $37,300 contribution, which is way over the federal limit, and it’s identified on his FEC form as “refund pending.”
So, out of the $81,000 he raised from others (which is a horribly small number to begin with), he admits having to return about $50K of that to donors and might have to return another $8K or so. Either way, that’s most of his January 1st cash on hand.
What a mess.
* Meanwhile…
Among those who missed Thursday’s roll call votes in Springfield on legislation providing funding for community colleges and for MAP grants to low-income college students were Sen. Kyle McCarter, R-Lebanon, and Rep. Reggie Phillips, R-Charleston. […]
“It’s clear that Senator McCarter is focused on the job he wants, not the job he was elected to do. The hard-working families of his district deserve better representation than a politician that skips out on votes to campaign,” said Kayleen Carlson, the campaign manager for U.S. Rep. John Shimkus, the Collinsville Republican whom McCarter is challenging in the 15th Congressional District primary.
McCarter, in a statement, called the legislation “not good policy,” but did not explain his absence from Springfield.
“I have and will continue to fight for education policy that is affordable for the state of Illinois and (Thursday’s) vote was a Democrat bill passed by a Democrat majority with no money appropriated. It is simply not good policy,” he wrote. “This attack is another example of Congressman Shimkus shifting the focus off his liberal voting record of funding Planned Parenthood, Obamacare and amnesty.”
Actually, there was money “appropriated.” The Democrats passed an appropriations bill. There were no revenues provided, however.
posted by Rich Miller
Tuesday, Feb 2, 16 @ 2:42 pm
Sorry, comments are closed at this time.
Previous Post: Undoing some lousy “reforms”
Next Post: Question of the day
WordPress Mobile Edition available at alexking.org.
powered by WordPress.
Hard to imagine McCarter beating Shimkus. Also hard to imagine Shimkus as “liberal.”
Comment by wayward Tuesday, Feb 2, 16 @ 2:50 pm
Amateur hour from McCarter. I hope he’s not paying anyone for that stellar fundraising work.
Comment by Former Downstater Tuesday, Feb 2, 16 @ 2:50 pm
McCarter still dislikes Shimkus from the days of the post-Watson appointment. This is personal for him. But it had to sting when Governor Rauner backed Shimkus - especially since McCarter was one of two Senators (including Duffy) that openly supported Governor Rauner in the 2014 primary.
Comment by Team Sleep Tuesday, Feb 2, 16 @ 3:18 pm
I live in districts that both represent and am familiar with both.
I have to wonder - in what universe is McCarter living in to claim that Shimkus has a “liberal voting record”?
Both are flawed candidates in my opinion, and for different reasons, but this should be interesting to watch.
Comment by illini Tuesday, Feb 2, 16 @ 3:28 pm
No surprise on McCarter’s absence from the Community College/MAP vote. He really does not “buy into” the concept of public education– so he’s being consistent with his past history of underwhelming support in this area.
Comment by Yesterday's Chairman Tuesday, Feb 2, 16 @ 3:31 pm
Looks like a mailer explaining Kyle’s position is out of the question for now….
Let’s just say it’s….pending.
Comment by A guy Tuesday, Feb 2, 16 @ 3:38 pm
….and don’t think the McKendree University allies didn’t notice.
Comment by Blue dog dem Tuesday, Feb 2, 16 @ 3:39 pm
Can McCarter get a radio gig south i.e. Joe Walsh ?
Comment by Railrat Tuesday, Feb 2, 16 @ 3:58 pm
First, who is McCarter’s Treasurer. He or she should be fired. Second, if he can’t keep these donations straight, how can he ever be expected to manage billions of dollars in federal budgets.
Comment by Apocalypse Tuesday, Feb 2, 16 @ 4:11 pm
===how can he ever be expected to manage billions of dollars in federal budgets===
He’s not running for president.
Comment by Rich Miller Tuesday, Feb 2, 16 @ 4:14 pm
“The Shimkus liberal voting record.” Ha! Thanks for my laugh of the day.
McCarter really does have a lot of maturing to do. But, the fact is, both Shimkus and McCarter would vote the same way on most things…and most voters here would be happy with either of them. The rest of us, not so much.
Comment by South Central Tuesday, Feb 2, 16 @ 4:17 pm
While McCarter’s lackluster fundraising is of definite concern taking on a sitting Congressman, the rest of the Post-Dispatch article points out that Shimkus’ money is nearly composed of PAC money - which is omitted in the above article. This goes to the heart of what McCarter has griped about Shimkus’ establishment ties during his 20 years in DC.
Shimkus’ voting record is dismal when factoring in the various “scorecards” of conservative groups/sites/organizations. They range from 39% conservative voting record at Conservative Review to the Heritage Foundation who rates him at 43% last time I checked. Those are both worse “scorecard” grades than McCain & McConnell which the conservatives I run with despise. So from that standpoint, anything south of 50% tilts someone to the liberal side - without going into the blah blah blah regarding conservative purity tests.
I believe Shimkus is taking the challenge seriously even if nobody else is. Living in both districts, I have received more mailers from Shimkus than recent memory allows. Plus, I’ve seen more TV ads from Shimkus than I can remember. Shimkus’ campaign also had pollsters on the ground in my city for the first time that I have seen since he was first elected.
McCarter has the endorsements of several conservative groups. I’m just wondering if they’ll back their endorsements with money/ads. One thing is for sure, time is running out.
Comment by LGHB Tuesday, Feb 2, 16 @ 4:35 pm
If you spend any time in the district, McCarter is doing meet and greets with ads that don’t even satisfy the Illinois disclosure guidelines, let alone the Federal. I think the spending from McCarter’s state account will be what to watch during this primary period for the federal race.
Comment by Blago's Luxurious Grey Mane Tuesday, Feb 2, 16 @ 4:43 pm
LGHB - we must be “neighbors” yet I have not received any mailings and must be missing the TV ads. I guess both campaigns have figured out that I am unlikely to vote Republican in the Primary.
Blago - you may be on to something - Follow the Money. Keep in mind, McC does not seem to think normal rules do not apply to him.
And remember the famous quote from JS at least 10 years ago - “Corporations are my best friends”.
Stay tuned - more to come.
Comment by illini Tuesday, Feb 2, 16 @ 5:03 pm
Let’s not forget McCarter’s huge payments to a consultant out of his state account leading up to his congressional announcement.
Each of these individual incidents is a minor violation of federal election law. But aggregated they show a pathetic carelessness unworthy of a candidate for village board, let alone congress.
This is just another one of the petty, personal campaigns typically mounted by far-right idealogues who feel they have some literally God-given right to hold office by virtue of their moral superiority.
McCarter will do about as well as Mike Flynn did against “liberal” Darin LaHood.
Comment by Adam Smith Tuesday, Feb 2, 16 @ 5:07 pm
I am in both their districts. Shimkus is far from liberal and McCarter is no way near what we had in Frank Watson. I would like to see them both gone so the area can get some respectable representation.
Comment by Vandalia Tuesday, Feb 2, 16 @ 5:09 pm
Charleston certainly has no stake in the MAP grant funding. Phillips couldn’t show up and vote “present”?
Comment by PENSIONS ARE OFF LIMITS Tuesday, Feb 2, 16 @ 5:16 pm
I understand that there exists some minutiae in campaign finance disclosure rules.
But how can McCarter not know the FEC has a limit?
Comment by Robert the Bruce Tuesday, Feb 2, 16 @ 5:28 pm
McCarter’s blatant disregard for FEC laws is mind boggling. His compliance person should be sweating right now. Those corporate contributions and the 37k donation should never have hit his account. They should have been sent back uncashed. The fact that they deposited them in the first place shows that the campaign wanted to live off the “float” of those illegal contributions before having to refund them.
Comment by Seriously Tuesday, Feb 2, 16 @ 7:45 pm
McCarter took the easy way out.
He votes “No” and faces heat back home.
He votes “Yes” and he gets it from ‘Overnor Corleone.
He knew what he was doing.
Comment by btowntruth Wednesday, Feb 3, 16 @ 2:23 am
illini:
He is living in the universe where Sam McCann is a “Madigan crony” and a “union flunky”.
The same universe that Shimkus is a “liberal” in.
Comment by btowntruth Wednesday, Feb 3, 16 @ 2:32 am