Mike Bloomberg and [Cook County state’s attorney candidate] Bill Conway are grabbing headlines lately for fueling their own campaigns — the former New York City mayor and Democratic presidential candidate has dropped $200 million, while Conway’s billionaire father has given his son $4.85 million. There are other self-funders in Illinois, too, spending a combined $7.58 million so far this election cycle.
Documents filed with the state Board of Elections show Appellate Court Justice Shelly Harris just last week donated $1.4 million to his campaign for state Supreme Court justice, bringing his war chest to nearly $2 million. And attorney Daniel Epstein has donated $300,000 to his own run for the state Supreme Court.
Jacob Meister, an attorney running for Cook County clerk of the Circuit Court, has given himself $100,000 for the primary race. Like many self-funders, he’s distinguished himself as an outsider. […]
Self-funders have a critical advantage in any race. They don’t have to work a day job and then “bust their butts” at night trying to fundraise, Ken Snyder, principal and co-founder of SnyderPickerill Media Group told Playbook, whose firm has managed campaigns across the country. “Lots of mistakes or gaffes a candidate makes can be attributed to fatigue.”
Of course, self-funding doesn’t guarantee victory, either. Just ask Jim Oberweis, the state senator now running for a congressional seat. In the 2006 GOP gubernatorial primary, he spent nearly $3.3 million of his own money only to lose to Judy Baar Topinka (who lost to former Gov. Rod Blagojevich). Self-funders are known to make rookie campaign mistakes in spending. […]
Judicial races tend to see more self-funders than most campaigns. That’s because they aren’t allowed to personally solicit donations — though friends can on their behalf. And many see self-funding as an investment of sorts. […]
Though Gov. J.B. Pritzker and his predecessor, Republican Bruce Rauner, found success in self-funding, the odds of those candidates winning aren’t great. That’s because self-funders tend to be inexperienced in politics. Or they rub voters the wrong way (People might think they’re trying to buy an election).
All good points. Until Rauner came along, self-funders just didn’t click at the state level for one reason or the other.
* Speaking of money, check out this video by Illinois Supreme Court candidate Daniel Epstein about the need for conflict of interest rules and procedures at the appellate level and above…
* Democratic state’s attorney challenger Bill Conway gets another $2.35 million from his wealthy father, records show
* In this race, nobody passes the purity test: But one other aspect of this is worth noting. That’s where Conway is getting his money: from his father, William Conway, and other executives at Carlyle Group, a Washington investment firm known for parlaying political contacts—George H.W. Bush was on its payroll for a while, as was former U.S. Defense Secretary Frank Carlucci—into shrewd investments in the right defense contractors when wartime rolls around. They’ve donated roughly $5 million so far to the younger Conway’s campaign.
Mayor Lori Lightfoot is “still learning” what Rahm Emanuel already knew about legislative lobbying, but she’ll get what she needs during the spring session to avoid a massive property tax increase, retiring Senate President John Cullerton predicted Friday. […]
“The language with the casino is agreed to by many negotiators in the House, the Senate and the governor’s office. It’s just that people in gaming — they always want to add other things. It’s the things that were not in there that were causing people to not commit to vote,” Cullerton told the Chicago Sun-Times.
“That’s something that can easily be worked out once people realize that the Chicago casino is gonna fund the capital bill. The people downstate who get all the money for the roads. They always want to vote against Chicago. But this deal is what provides the money to pay for the roads. That’s why it’s inevitable that this will pass.” […]
“What you have to do in Springfield with Chicago issues is…be under the radar. You can’t have press conferences and brag about how you got more money for Chicago, even though you were entitled to it,” he said.
As for the looming, $1 billion spike in pension payments, Cullerton urged Lightfoot to follow his lead and use the “consideration model” to hammer out cost-of-living concessions with the largest of four city employee pension funds.
The interview was broken up into two parts. The other part, about Speaker Madigan, is here.
