[Updated and bumped to the top because we’re going to use this thread for newly filed campaign disclosure reports.]

*** UPDATE 25 @ 9:22 pm *** The governor’s report is in and they told the truth about not having any new Winston & Strawn charges. They did this once before, however, and added them back in later, so one never knows what to believe.

The governor reported raising $1,891,238, spent $387,165 (including about $46K to Hinshaw & Culbertson law firm) and had $3.6 million in the bank.

He’s still carrying $750,000 in old debt on the books. Every dime of that is owed to his criminal defense attorneys at Winston & Strawn. So 39 cents of every dollar he raised this period is committed to the pinstripes.

…Adding… The debt to Winston & Strawn has dropped from $965,352.04 in the last filing period to $750K in this filing period. But no money was reported as being paid to the firm this year. A campaign spokesperson said that the reduced amount was the result of negotiations with the firm. The guv’s people have said for some time now that they’ve disputed some of the charges, and subscribers know another story about the law firm that I told them a couple of months ago.

The spokesman added that no separate legal fund has been set up by the governor.

*** UPDATE 24 @ 8:25 pm *** State Sen. Christine Radogno has been talking up a possible GOP gubernatorial bid. Her numbers are in. Radogno raised $111,692, spent $91,002 and had $94,089 cash on hand.

I’m not sure how any of these Republicans think they’re going to be competitive with those kinds of numbers.

Here are the amounts raised for the Repubs who have been floating their names…

* Rutherford: $219,699

* Radogno: $111,692

* Birkett: $63,782

* Dillard: $60,187

* Brady: $55,730

Not exactly stellar.

*** UPDATE 23 @ 8:18 pm *** Trib bloggers Rick Pearson and John Chase have more on the governor’s fundraising numbers…

That’s far less than the embattled Blagojevich raised during a comparable reporting period—the first six months of 2004, two years before the next round of statewide elections. Back then, Blagojevich raised $4.9 million and spent only $877,000, which left him with more than $10.2 million in the bank heading up to his successful for a second term in 2006.

But Scofield said the governor is pleased with his fundraising results. He said over the last 12 months he’s raised about $4 million, which is “right in the ballpark” for previous 12 month periods. Still, Scofield acknowledged that the governor has not spent time fundraising because he’s been dealing with budget battles with the legislature and his plan last year to rearrange the state’s tax structure.

“The governor has spent as little time fundraising in the last 18 months than any time since he’s run for governor,” Scofield said.

* 5:33 pm - I’m gonna take a bit of a break. I’ll be back when the governor’s report is filed.

*** UPDATE 22 @ 5:29 pm *** Treasurer Alexi Giannoulias’ report has been filed. He raised $659,865, which is more than Lisa Madigan, who (to be fair) was busy having a baby, but a bit less than Dan Hynes. The campaign points out, however, that Giannoulias’ individual contributions (as opposed to PAC money) was far higher than both Madigan and Hynes. Giannoulias ended with $1,273,741 cash on hand.

*** UPDATE 21 @ 5:09 pm *** The governor’s campaign just said their report will be released at about 7 tonight. According to the campaign, no new Winston & Strawn expenditures will be reported. That could mean a lot of things, however.

The guv’s campaign will report raising a bit under $2 million, with just under $3.6 mil cash on hand, although that’s a ballpark at the moment. Stay tuned.

*** UPDATE 20 @ 5:00 pm *** The report is in for Citizens for Emil Jones. The committee raised $290,255, which compares to the $230,600 that Jones raised during the same period in 2006. Jones finished the period with cash on hand of $1.6 million - way down from the $2.5 million he had on-hand two years ago at this time and equal to Frank Watson’s on-hand total.

* The Illinois Senate Democratic Fund report has also just been filed. The committe raised $621,812, which is down from the $719,311 it raised in the same 2006 period. The ISDF had $452,463, compared to $809K in ‘06, and far lower than the Senate GOP total.

*** UPDATE 19 @ 4:49 pm *** The Illinois Green Party raised $20,879 in the first half of the year. IGP had $9,611 cash on hand.

*** UPDATE 18 @ 4:42 pm *** Attorney General Lisa Madigan’s D-2 is in. AG Madigan raised $569,399 during the reporting period. That’s about $170,000 less than what Comptroller Dan Hynes pulled in. Ouch.

Madigan has $2.6 million in cash on hand - which is a few hundo more than Hynes.

*** UPDATE 17 @ 4:38 pm *** Sen. Bill Brady, who ran for governor in 2006, is talking up another run in 2010. But he reported just $55,730 in contributions during the first half of 2008. Brady had $67,413 on hand. Money was his biggest problem last time, you will recall.

*** UPDATE 16 @ 4:32 pm *** Rev. Sen. James Meeks has been touted by some as a possible 2010 gubernatorial candidate. Well, Meeks reported raising just $7,300 in the first six months of the year.

*** UPDATE 15 @ 4:14 pm *** Nothing has been filed yet, but I’m told that House GOP Leader Tom Cross’ D-2 will show he raised about $640,000 and has $1.1 million cash on hand. That compares to $576,205 raised during the same period two years ago, with $1,372,742 cash on hand.

*** UPDATE 14 @ 4:05 pm *** Secretary of State Jesse White’s disclosure report has been filed. White reported raising $359,807, spent $234,720, and had $668,712 on hand.

*** UPDATE 13 @ 3:59 pm *** The Democratic Party of Illinois, which Speaker Madigan uses to fund his House campaigns, reported raising $177,939 during the first six months of the year. That doesn’t sound like much, but it’s more than the $109,434 which DPI raised in the same period back in 2006.

And this is the bigger story: DPI ended the period with $743,190, way up from the $166,044 it had on hand at the end of June, 2006.

*** UPDATE 12 @ 3:52 pm *** House Speaker Michael Madigan’s personal campaign committee report is in. Friends of Michael J Madigan raised $1,159,368 during the reporting period. That compares to $780,875 from the same period in 2006, so it’s a big jump. But the end result is about the same, as far as bank balances go, at least. FOMJM ended the reporting period with $1,117,394 cash on hand, compared to $1,009,329 during the same period in 2006. Still, he’s up while the GOP leaders are down.

*** UPDATE 11 @ 3:46 pm *** The governor’s House floor leader, Rep. Jay Hoffman, has put together a giant campaign fund, partly in anticipation of an eventual run for secretary of state, and partly to help his allies against Speaker Madigan, and the rest to defend himself.

Hoffman reported raising $106,780 during the first half of the year, bringing his total cash on hand to over $1.24 million, even after spending $98,808 on campaigns, staff, infrastructure, etc. Not bad for a little ol’ rep, eh?

*** UPDATE 10 @ 3:34 pm *** The Tribbies have some interesting campaign finance tidbits…

The Service Employees International Union’s Illinois political action committee gave $50,000 to Gov. Rod Blagojevich. The PAC also gave $5,000 to each of the state’s other Democratic statewide elected officeholders—an exception being Lt Gov. Pat Quinn, who got nothing—and gave $25,000 apiece to House Speaker Michael Madigan’s campaign fund and to the Senate Democrat’s campaign treasury.

*** UPDATE 9 @ 3:08 pm *** Senate GOP Leader Frank Watson’s personal committee report is in. Watson raised $601,718 during the first half of the year, compared to $752,210 during the same period two years ago. Watson spent $249,601 and had a bit over $1.6 million on-hand. He had about $1.9 million on-hand two years ago.

*** UPDATE 8 @ 2:15 pm *** The Democratic nominee for Cook County State’s Attorney, Anita Alvarez has raised $463,275 since the primary (compared to $71K for the filing period by her GOP opponent). Her total for the first six months of the year was $1,054,093. She has $167,957 on-hand.

*** UPDATE 7 @ 2:04 pm *** The House Republican Organization reported raising $407,791 in the first half of the year. That compares to $478,358 during the first half of 2006. But the HGOPs are going to have to defend a ton of seats this time around, unlike 2006, when they only lost one seat. HRO spent $389,411 and had just $111,779 in the bank.

These state legislative caucus committees are usually outpaced by the personal committees of the various leaders. So, we’ll see what those numbers bring.

*** UPDATE 6 @ 1:56 pm *** The Cook County Republican Party raised $28,370 during the first half of the year. During the first six months of 2007. which was an “off” year, the party raised $27,262. Not much of an improvement. The latest reports show that the party has $14,460 in the bank.

*** UPDATE 5 @ 1:50 pm *** Two years ago, the Republican State Senate Campaign Committee raised $653,334 during the first half of the year and had about $1.1 million cash on hand. This time around, the RSSCC pulled in $611,252 and had $922,051 in the bank.

*** UPDATE 4 @ 1:38 pm *** GOP state Sen. Kirk Dillard has been mentioned as a possible statewide candidate. His latest report shows he raised $60,187, spent $90,199, and had $103,467 on hand.

* Also, Democratic state Rep. Jack Franks has been hinting around about a statewide bid. Franks reported raising $123,327 during the first six months of the year, he spent $112,545 and had $133,430 left over.

*** UPDATE 3 @ 1:36 pm *** The late John Stroger’s campaign fund didn’t raise any money this year, nor did it spend any, but it still has $559,556 in the bank.

The late county board president’s son, Todd, also reported no money raised this year in one of his funds, but the Friends of Todd H Stroger for President funds hasn’t yet reported anything today.

*** UPDATE 2 @ 1:22 pm *** GOP Sen. Dan Rutherford lost to Secretary of State Jesse White in 2006, but he’s obviously been gearing up for another statewide bid. Rutherford reported raising $219,699 during the first six months of this year. He spent $135,840 and had $273,964 in the bank. Rutherford filed his report last week, but I hadn’t seen any coverage on it, so there you go.

*** UPDATE 1 @ 11:35 am *** Dan Hynes is the first statewide officeholder to file his D-2 report today. Hynes raised $739,377, spent $108,498 and had $2,358,420 in the bank on June 30th.

* Republican Joe Birkett, who is talking about a race for governor, already filed with $63,782 raised, $57,221 spent and $96,713 in the bank.

* GOP state’s attorney nominee Tony Peraica filed earlier with $71,215 raised, $120,874 spent and $43,522 in the bank.

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OK, so today is campaign finance report deadline day and the State Board of Elections’ website is proving to be a huge pain.

Yes, they fixed some of the more egregious problems that we complained about a few months ago. But check out the steps it takes to keep things in order for several campaign finance stories that will run in tomorrow’s Capitol Fax (and which ran in today’s CF - the one with the goofy error about Grumman)…

First, you go to the Latest Reports Filed page and start scrolling down.

OK, I found one that sparks my curiosity: Citizens for Jim Watson. He doesn’t have any opposition, but he’s in Iraq and I’m kinda interested to see if he’s raised any money. So, I click on the D-2 link and up pops the report.

If I have a bunch of other reports open, often times when I click on one of the “itemized” lists I get somebody else’s report details. That means hitting the “back” button, refreshing Watson’s latest D-2 report page and then clicking on the details link once again. Sometimes that works, sometimes it doesn’t, necessitating another back button, another refresh and another link.

Now, if I want to save the latest D-2 report for later, I have to go back to the Latest Reports Filed page, find Watson’s name again, and click on the committee name, rather than the D-2 link. Of course, by now I’ve realized that I have to do this right off the bat, but it’s just goofy that I have to do it at all.

But after I do that, I have to go into the D-2 report again or I won’t get a unique address. Then and only then do I get a link that I can save for later, but the link is for the “all documents filed” page, not the latest D-2 in question. Argghhh!!!

Of course, they still haven’t allowed users to open a link in a new tab or a new window, so once I get a link I can finally save, I have to copy and paste it into a new tab on my own.

Also, if I try to save the D-2 page as an html document so I can get around the Board’s craziness by keeping a copy on my hard drive, I get this unreadable mess.

It’s inexcusably retro, buggy and ridiculous, but that may not be the worst of it. As Curt Mercadante notes…

As many of you know, I’m a candidate for Grundy County Board, and the BOE’s circa-1996 software makes it as confusing as possible even to file the most simple disclosure report.

Document the atrocities.