* Rauner campaign…

Rauner Campaign Calls on DGA to File In-Kind Donations for Ads Supporting Rep. Ives

In response to the Democratic Governors Association’s attempts to influence the Republican primary, the Rauner campaign is demanding the DGA file their advertising purchase as an in-kind donation to Rep. Jeanne Ives’ campaign.

The Rauner campaign released the following statement:

“Washington Democrats know that Governor Rauner will be tough to beat in November. That’s why they’ve decided to overtly attempt to influence the outcome of the Republican primary in favor of a candidate who is simply unelectable in Illinois. Their support of Representative Ives should be seen for what it is: an in-kind donation from a group that accepted $2 million from Mike Madigan’s handpicked candidate, JB Pritzker.”
- Communications Director Will Allison

The DGA had no comment.

* But I reached out to the State Board of Elections and got this…

They have a point that it should be reported. Whether it’s reported as an independent expenditure or an in-kind contribution is the issue.

This seems like a pretty standard independent expenditure by the DGA. It would have to be reported on a B-1, and I find no record of any such independent expenditure in our system at the moment for the DGA’s Illinois committee.

But an in-kind contribution would mean the DGA coordinated with the Ives campaign on this ad. If that were the case, it would need to be reported on an A-1.

Either way, this would need to be reported within two business days of the expenditure.

I kinda doubt the DGA coordinated with Ives, so a B-1 it is. And it’ll probably have to be filed on both their ads. Better get on it, guys.

*** UPDATE *** DGA…

“These are issue advocacy communications urging the people of Illinois to contact these two officeholders regarding their disastrous policy ideas for the state. These issue ads are not reportable expenditures or electioneering communications under Illinois law.”

The logic is that the ad doesn’t advocate for or against any candidate, and doesn’t even mention voting or elections, and therefore doesn’t qualify as an “Independent expenditure,” “electioneering communication” or other form of campaign “expenditure” subject to Illinois campaign finance law.

[Some content from this post has been moved to a different post. Click here.]

* Back to the DGA…

It’s becoming clear that Governor Bruce Rauner is getting worried about his primary challenge from state Representative Jeanne Ives. Natasha Korecki of Politico writes that while Rauner has been pretending like he’s not worried about his primary challenger, “his actions…seem to suggest otherwise.” Rauner’s bumped up his TV buy, focused it solely on Ives, and moved uncharacteristically decisively to veto gun safety legislation.

Republican state Representative David McSweeney said his actions show that Rauner’s “running scared:”

“These turnout numbers are really worrying the Rauner people…He’s running scared in Southern Illinois.”

Ives recently released a poll showing Rauner had a slim 42% to 35% lead. Rauner has not released any polls himself.

“Bruce Rauner is running scared,” said DGA Illinois Communications Director Sam Salustro. “And for good reason. Rauner simply cannot answer for his failed leadership that drove up debt and drove jobs out of the state. Three years into his term, Illinois is worse and Bruce Rauner’s to blame.”

That poll was a robopoll taken last Friday by Ogden & Fry . I told subscribers about it. MoE +/- 3.5%, 787 likely GOP primary voters.