Capitol Fax.com - Your Illinois News Radar

Wednesday, Jan 16, 2019 - Posted by Rich Miller

* Yesterday was quarterly filing deadline day. I told subscribers about some of the major players this morning, but let’s take a look at some down-ballot statewide contests. Here’s our old pal Jason Helland, Republican candidate for secretary of state…

Funds available at the beginning of the reporting period: $60,746.85
Total Receipts: $1,005.00
Subtotal: $61,751.85
Total Expenditures: $9,707.04
Funds available at the close of the reporting period: $52,044.81

He raised a thousand bucks and didn’t even spend $10K. He received another $7K in in-kinds from the state party for consulting work. And of that $9,700 in reported expenditures, $6,584 went to himself for things like mileage.

* Secretary of State Jesse White…

Funds available at the beginning of the reporting period: $1,114,318.75
Total Receipts: $263,080.24
Subtotal: $1,377,398.99
Total Expenditures: $696,231.93
Funds available at the close of the reporting period: $681,167.06

White doesn’t appear on Illinois Election Data’s list of “grandfathered” committees…

Prior to June 1998 surplus campaign funds could be converted to personal use so long as they paid taxes on that income. Cash on hand as of June 30, 1998 would be grandfathered in, surplus campaign funds could be converted to personal use (subject to tax) up to the balance as of 6/30/98.

White closed the committee he had back then at the end of 1998.

* Republican attorney general candidate Erika Harold…

Funds available at the beginning of the reporting period: $174,592.81
Total Receipts: $2,826,577.90
Subtotal: $3,001,170.71
Total Expenditures: $2,933,706.77
Funds available at the close of the reporting period: $67,463.94

Harold spent $330K on digital advertising in the fourth quarter and over $2.3 million on TV.

* Attorney General Kwame Raoul…

Funds available at the beginning of the reporting period: $653,311.16
Total Receipts: $5,162,089.81
Subtotal: $5,815,400.97
Total Expenditures: $5,497,153.49
Funds available at the close of the reporting period: $318,247.48

Raoul spent close to $5 million on advertising, paid $65K to P2 Consulting and spent $15K on election-day phone calls.

* Republican comptroller candidate Darlene Senger…

Funds available at the beginning of the reporting period: $48,134.28
Total Receipts: $16,225.00
Subtotal: $64,359.28
Total Expenditures: $59,296.54
Funds available at the close of the reporting period: $5,062.74

Expenditures included $18K for a poll in October.

* Comptroller Susana Mendoza…

Funds available at the beginning of the reporting period: $1,696,696.52
Total Receipts: $353,874.47
Subtotal: $2,050,570.99
Total Expenditures: $1,937,498.55
Funds available at the close of the reporting period: $113,072.44

Expenditures include her transfer of $500K to her mayoral committee. She spent almost $1.3 million on advertising.

* Republican treasurer candidate Jim Dodge…

Funds available at the beginning of the reporting period: $4,333.99
Total Receipts: $14,895.00
Subtotal: $19,228.99
Total Expenditures: $15,710.29
Funds available at the close of the reporting period: $3,518.70

Dodge owes himself over $32K.

* Treasurer Michael Frerichs…

Funds available at the beginning of the reporting period: $1,333,004.12
Total Receipts: $411,150.00
Subtotal: $1,744,154.12
Total Expenditures: $0.00
Funds available at the close of the reporting period: $1,744,154.12

He spent nothing? Didn’t he have an ad?

…Adding… I’m told the Frerichs filing will be amended “shortly.”

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“The Original Soda Taxer”

Wednesday, Jan 16, 2019 - Posted by Rich Miller

* Have a look…

Gery Chico hits Susana Mendoza on television. "The Original Soda Taxer" he calls this commercial: https://t.co/u6dYov5qu1

— Tahman Bradley (@tahmanbradley) January 16, 2019

From the spot…

In Springfield, Susana Mendoza voted to hit working families with a massive new soda tax.

The ad claims she increased soda taxes by 600 percent.

* Coincidentally, we talked about this same bill from 2009 earlier today. It was part of the Video Gaming Act which funded the capital program. From the statute…

Beginning September 1, 2009, each month the Department shall pay into the Capital Projects Fund an amount that is equal to an amount estimated by the Department to represent 80% of the net revenue realized for the preceding month from the sale of candy, grooming and hygiene products, and soft drinks that had been taxed at a rate of 1% prior to August 1, 2009 but that is now taxed at 6.25%. […]

Notwithstanding any other provisions of this Act, beginning August 1, 2009, “soft drinks” mean non-alcoholic beverages that contain natural or artificial sweeteners. “Soft drinks” do not include beverages that contain milk or milk products, soy, rice or similar milk substitutes, or greater than 50% of vegetable or fruit juice by volume.

By the way, an increase of 1 to 6.25 is actually a 525 percent increase, not 600. But whatevs.

* The legislation also increased the tax rate on candy. Here’s one of my all-time favorite legislative definitions…

For purposes of this Section, “candy” means a preparation of sugar, honey, or other natural or artificial sweeteners in combination with chocolate, fruits, nuts or other ingredients or flavorings in the form of bars, drops, or pieces. “Candy” does not include any preparation that contains flour or requires refrigeration.

* Now, to the point. I’d wager that most people don’t remember these two tax hikes or never even heard about them when they passed.

Why? Because it was an agreed bill. Democrats and Republicans worked together on the drafting and both sides put votes on the legislation and almost nobody voted against it. The Retail Merchants Association also had a hand in crafting the bill and other business groups strongly supported doing an infrastructure program.

Without significant opposition, those tax hikes quickly faded from view.

The difference between now and then, however, is the prevalence of social media. It’s much easier for a small group of anti-taxers to spread their gospel than it was ten years ago.

…Adding… Rebecca Evans at the Susana Mendoza campaign…

“Gery Chico, Ed Burke’s endorsed candidate, is misrepresenting the facts in a desperate attempt to distract voters from his relationship with Ed Burke, whom he lobbied in City Hall. Susana voted for a bipartisan economic stimulus bill, a capitol bill that created 10s of thousands of jobs, putting people to work as the recession was ravaging Illinois. Toni Preckwinkle is the only candidate in this race who proposed a regressive soda tax.”

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