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* Illinois Observer…
Most losing – and many winning – political campaigns exhaust their campaign cash and end a race broke. Not Ken Dunkin.
Dunkin, a Democratic state representative from Chicago who lost his reelection bid in the March Democratic primary to Juliana Stratton, made a profit.
Dunkin, an ally of Republican Governor Bruce Rauner, began the fourth quarter of 2015 with $221,143 in the bank; raised $1,309,500 ($1,300,000 from a Rauner ally); spent $294,462; and ended with $1,236,180 in the bank, according to state election board records. That’s a profit of $1 million. Not bad.
The Illinois Opportunity Project, which is operated by Rauner political lieutenant Dan Proft, donated $1.3 million to Dunkin’s campaign.
As a “dark money” group that need not disclose its source of funding, insiders have been left speculating who has that kind of money to spend and who had an overwhelming interest to reelect Dunkin. Who?
Whoever it is their money is now safely parked in Dunkin’s campaign account.
One over/under line on Dunkin I participated in was $400K. I picked the over. But even I figured Dunkin spent lots more than he actually did.
posted by Rich Miller
Monday, Apr 18, 16 @ 9:34 am
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Something tells me that those individuals who actually wrote those checks will be calling and making suggestions about how those funds can be spent.
Comment by siriusly Monday, Apr 18, 16 @ 9:38 am
–As a “dark money” group that need not disclose its source of funding, insiders have been left speculating who has that kind of money to spend and who had an overwhelming interest to reelect Dunkin. Who?–
I’m guessing the same dark-money source that financed those negative spots against Schock, Brady, Rutherford and Dillard, back in the day.
We know that wasn’t Rauner. He was asked directly and said “no.”
So, it remains a mystery.
Comment by wordslinger Monday, Apr 18, 16 @ 9:40 am
Dunkin’s campaign committee was created in 2001, too late to be grandfathered in to be able to convert the money to personal funds. If someone was just trying to get him a payoff for some reason this isn’t the smart way to do it, he can’t personally get at the money. Instead they could have given an ally, a close trusted ally, a lucrative and/or long term consulting gig.
Here are some more things that are very interesting. The first $500K was given on 2/1, and that money never ran out. Then another $300K on 3/4 and another $500K on 3/14, the day before the election. By the time of those last two donations whoever was giving that money had to know where the polling was and how the race would go. Very weird.
One of the permissible uses of this leftover money is to give it to (an)other campaign committee(s) in amounts allowed under the contribution limits. Candidate committees are allowed to make unlimited transfers to party committees so Dunkin could legally give it to the Democratic Party of Illinois or the Speaker’s Democratic Majority committee. Or even Cullerton’s Illinois Senate Democratic Victory Fund.
Wouldn’t that be a fun development?
Comment by The Captain Monday, Apr 18, 16 @ 9:55 am
Dunkin ran ads, on broadcast TV, with “paid for by friends of ken dunkin”. So why does Dunkin only report $35k in TV buys?
Comment by AlabamaShake Monday, Apr 18, 16 @ 9:56 am
===So why does Dunkin only report $35k in TV buys?===
Read through the whole list. There were more ad buys I think than you found.
Comment by Rich Miller Monday, Apr 18, 16 @ 9:59 am
@wordslinger 9:40 ==We know it wasn’t Rauner. He was asked directly and said “no”.==
A good one! (choking on coffee) If Rauner says something we know it’s got to be true!/s
Comment by DuPage Monday, Apr 18, 16 @ 10:05 am
a new twist on the recent expose — Lifestyles of the Rich and Elected…. and Unelected.
That’s going to buy a lot of meals, trips, and cars for all that campaignin’ in Champaign drinkin’ some chamgagne.
He’ll probably start running for mayor somewhere….
Comment by cdog Monday, Apr 18, 16 @ 10:07 am
Maybe I missed some… but not enough to be on broadcast tv at the level those ads were.
Here is what I found:
Comcast Financial Corp - $12,954.00
Comcast Spotlight - $21,250.00
Midway Broadcasting - $5,330.28
WGN-TV - $10,030.00
So I get $47k or so (I think I originally missed the WGN).
That still isn’t enough to pay for the number of ads I saw with “friends of Dunkin” disclaimer info, I think.
He only reported spending $290k total. I don’t see how that comes close to covering his tv buys. I may be wrong about the disclaimer info, but I’m geeky enough to pay pretty close attention to that.
Comment by AlabamaShake Monday, Apr 18, 16 @ 10:07 am
I wonder if Proft intended to provide such a large sum that would not be spent on re-electing Dunkin? If so, what’s the point? If not, it’s an expensive error.
Comment by anon Monday, Apr 18, 16 @ 10:14 am
He got so much money so late it was impossible to have spent it all so fast so close to the election. Look at Pat Quinn another example of someone who got a lot of money late. It will be interesting to see what he does with it. Maybe some of those almost bankrupt non profits should start calling.
Comment by illini dem Monday, Apr 18, 16 @ 10:38 am
He could have used some of that cash to pay a better rate to his campaign day staff, including a bonus for sticking around all day.
Had he done so, he might not have lost a bunch of them to Stratton during the day.
Comment by Gooner Monday, Apr 18, 16 @ 10:47 am
Someone needs to start a project to monitor Dunkin’s campaign account. Every time he spends money for expensive dinners or luxury items or skybox tickets or airfare, an alert should go off. Given the recent attention to campaign spending abuses by electeds and former electeds, it seems like Ken’s got himself a nice little slush fund…for years.
If it looks like a duck and quacks like a duck…it must be a…
Comment by Chicago Cynic Monday, Apr 18, 16 @ 10:48 am
Oh, and it’s also not taxable I suspect. Tax free money - what a racket.
Comment by Chicago Cynic Monday, Apr 18, 16 @ 10:49 am
== Someone needs to start a project to monitor Dunkin’s campaign account. Every time he spends money for expensive dinners or luxury items or skybox tickets or airfare, an alert should go off. ==
Expenses are only disclosed on the quarterly reports so check back in on 7/15 when the next one is filed.
Comment by The Captain Monday, Apr 18, 16 @ 10:55 am
Ken Dunkin was not part of the class of 1998, so he can’t use any of this money for personal use.
Put another way, leaving Ken out of office, with this much money at his fingertips, is like buying an alcoholic an apartment with a fully stocked wet bar
Comment by ILPundit Monday, Apr 18, 16 @ 11:04 am
That’s a pile of unused funds. Maybe Maze can be hired to manage it. A new indirect funding mechanism for other candidates?
Never having witnessed anything like this — what’s the informal call on the money’s use or return, by the donors?
Comment by walker Monday, Apr 18, 16 @ 11:07 am
Someone please enlighten my ignorance…what happens with the surplus, especially with the Representative leaving office?
Comment by AlfondoGonz Monday, Apr 18, 16 @ 11:07 am
I’m assuming Dunkin hasn’t been around long enough that he can cash any of this out, but this is enough cash for him to be a thorn in some sides (if he knows how to use it, which he probably doesn’t, but can find someone who does).
Comment by Anonymous Monday, Apr 18, 16 @ 11:19 am
Dunkin could run for mayor or just sit back, drink a cold one, and say 5 years from now- “I told you so!”
Comment by Down State Paul Monday, Apr 18, 16 @ 11:23 am
IL Pundit, as we’ve seen, lawmakers use their campaign warchests as slush funds for personal use all the time. Illinois Times recently did a great piece on this…
http://illinoistimes.com/mobile/articles/articleView/id:17049
Comment by Chicago Cynic Monday, Apr 18, 16 @ 11:26 am
I guess M. Dark Money over-anticipated the amount needed for the “ground game” to get the vote out in that district.
What was it $100, a ride, with lunch for a mark on #__ on the ballot?
Comment by cdog Monday, Apr 18, 16 @ 11:28 am
In the private sector, this would be pretty quickly classified as a purchase of his vote in the General Assembly, and the FBI would looking @ RICO charges. However, this is Illinois politics.
Comment by Former State Employee Monday, Apr 18, 16 @ 11:32 am
Maybe Dunkin will invest it in silver coins… /s
Comment by Mouthy Monday, Apr 18, 16 @ 11:38 am
Is Illinois politics swell or not? NOT!
A person of Dunkin’s ‘capabilities????’ is made Chair of the Higher Ed appropriations Committee by the Democrats and Rauner gives him big time money.
Comment by Federalist Monday, Apr 18, 16 @ 11:38 am
So that’s how much someone’s soul costs…
Comment by Anon Monday, Apr 18, 16 @ 12:02 pm
Is the dark money suppose to be spent on electing Dems that can be converted to vote with the governor?
Comment by Mama Monday, Apr 18, 16 @ 2:47 pm
When I heard Proft cut that big check to help Dunkin I assumed it was to another PAC account that they could control. I was shocked when I saw it went into Dunkins own PAC. Then I thought maybe they had enough commitments to spend it so no big deal. I couldn’t believe they trusted Ken to spend all that dough. Then I realized maybe that was the deal all along.
Comment by Been There Monday, Apr 18, 16 @ 4:04 pm
The Captain the campaign can oay for cars and trips. you dont need to direct convert funds to access them. just run for school board and go to fl to “fundraise”. or buy a new car and reimburse yourself for lots of mileage
Comment by Ghost Monday, Apr 18, 16 @ 4:49 pm