Caps busted in Madigan primary race
Tuesday, Mar 1, 2016 - Posted by Rich Miller
* It was bound to happen sooner or later…
* Scott Kennedy explains…
With this latest independent expenditure disclosure Illinois United for Change has now spent more than $100,000 in the 22nd House race supporting Jason Gonzales/opposing Mike Madigan thereby exceeding the threshold needed to lift the campaign contribution limits for all candidates in this race for the remainder of the primary election cycle. This means that the Speaker’s candidate committee, Friends of Michael J. Madigan, can now raise unlimited funds, an advantage not shared by the candidate committees of any of the other three legislative leaders.
The affected timeframe may be brief, the primary election cycle ends in two weeks, but the impact of this may be significant. Candidate committees can make unlimited transfers to party committees and during the general election party committees can make unlimited transfers to candidate committees. For the next two weeks the Speaker can raise unlimited funds into his candidate committee, he can then transfer as much of that as he’d like to the State Party (which he also controls) and come fall he can then use those State Party funds to either make expenditures on behalf of his candidates in targeted races or make unlimited transfers to those candidate committees.
- Precinct Captain - Tuesday, Mar 1, 16 @ 4:52 pm:
Strap in!
- Huh? - Tuesday, Mar 1, 16 @ 4:54 pm:
What took so long? /s
- Century Club - Tuesday, Mar 1, 16 @ 4:57 pm:
…and every democratic contributor throws their cell phone in a toilet.
- 47th Ward - Tuesday, Mar 1, 16 @ 5:00 pm:
Let’s see how much MJM can raise in unlimited contributions in the next two weeks.
“Mr. Eychaner, it’s Speaker Madigan calling on line two.”
- Rich Miller - Tuesday, Mar 1, 16 @ 5:01 pm:
===…and every democratic contributor throws their cell phone in a toilet. ===
I spit out my gum after reading that one. Hilarious!
- Downstate - Tuesday, Mar 1, 16 @ 5:03 pm:
The caps got blown away last week in the crazy 72nd primary
- Grand Avenue - Tuesday, Mar 1, 16 @ 5:05 pm:
I have a feeling that Turnaround Illinois & Liberty Principles will be busting the caps in all the competitive House General Election races anyway, so the individual candidates would be able to get unlimited $ from unions, Eychaner, etc anyway
- Albany Park Patriot - Tuesday, Mar 1, 16 @ 5:05 pm:
And who said Blair Hull can’t still win elections (that are not his own)?
- The Captain - Tuesday, Mar 1, 16 @ 5:06 pm:
It’s hard to argue with this, I hope the powers that be revisit these contribution limit rules and come up with something better.
- Langhorne - Tuesday, Mar 1, 16 @ 5:13 pm:
Bettin on ‘em, dont make ‘em win.
Throw all the money you want at madigan, he aint goin anywhere.
- Dirty Red - Tuesday, Mar 1, 16 @ 5:16 pm:
So I guess the Yacht Club dining area will be closed for the next few weeks?
In all seriousness, Hull just cleared the path for the Speaker to become even more powerful. And if the unions discover later on they spent too much this cycle, then Madigan has even more say in the 2018 gubernatorial.
- Hedley Lamarr - Tuesday, Mar 1, 16 @ 5:22 pm:
Albany Park Patriot for the win!
- Oswego Willy - Tuesday, Mar 1, 16 @ 5:34 pm:
How high does MJM go?
$5 million in 14 days?
I’d set it $5 million over/under… should be “under” all day
- @MisterJayEm - Tuesday, Mar 1, 16 @ 5:41 pm:
“As you can see, your friends have failed — Now witness the firepower of this fully ARMED and OPERATIONAL battle station!”
– MrJM
- Just Me - Tuesday, Mar 1, 16 @ 5:54 pm:
Gonzales is a plant, but not by Rauner.
- Juice - Tuesday, Mar 1, 16 @ 6:04 pm:
Clearly this is just a ploy so that the Speaker will be too distracted with two weeks of fundraising to be bothered with the ground game. Or something.
Or maybe when he thanked the Governor for the candidate, he was not actually being sarcastic.
- Chicago Cynic - Tuesday, Mar 1, 16 @ 6:10 pm:
“As you can see, your friends have failed — Now witness the firepower of this fully ARMED and OPERATIONAL battle station!”
– MrJM”
Awesome MrJM! But remember what happened at the end of that scene…
- walker - Tuesday, Mar 1, 16 @ 6:36 pm:
It’s easy. Just watch me moving the cups, then point to where the button is.
- wordslinger - Tuesday, Mar 1, 16 @ 7:46 pm:
–…and every democratic contributor throws their cell phone in a toilet.–
CC, woof, you’re not kidding.
Geez, given the status quo on March 1, 2016, as engineered by the governor…
….how do you not, when the call comes? That’s going to sting.
Blair Hull is the trippiest of trippy footnotes in recent Illinois political history.
Vegas card counter, derivatives scammer, ex accusing him of spousal abuse, dead chick in the garage…
…. and what did the consultants say, after they vetted him?
“No problemo — Senator!”
“Got the check?”
Did Gov. Darwin put him up to this or is he on his own?
- Ducky LaMoore - Tuesday, Mar 1, 16 @ 9:44 pm:
Money well spent… on a Latino candidate in a Latino district that can’t speak fluent Spanish. Good call. Good call.
- Earnest - Wednesday, Mar 2, 16 @ 7:34 am:
If both candidates are the recipients of tons of funds for their own candidacy, I’d like to know if they are also going to support the party as a whole with some of their funds. After all, they’re both Democrats. /snark
- Ahoy! - Wednesday, Mar 2, 16 @ 7:53 am:
So was Gonzales a Madigan plant to allow him to raise unlimited funds? We don’t not know that.
- burbanite - Wednesday, Mar 2, 16 @ 9:01 am:
That’s right Ahoy, Madigan and the Blair Hull he controls. /s