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* Gov. Pat Quinn’s campaign fund has about $1 million in the bank. More from the Chicago Tribune…

Campaign finance reports filed with the state this week showed Quinn raised nearly $300,000 during the last three months of 2012, including $50,000 donations in December from the pipe trades and the Teamsters. He also got $25,000 contributions from the United Auto Workers and the plumbers.

He’ll obviously have to rely on private sector unions for his cash from here on out, unless he wins the primary and is up against a totally anti-union Republican. In that case, it’ll be the devil you know, etc.

Lisa Madigan has about $3.6 million in the bank. She raised $10K from the IEA, and some from other public worker unions. Bill Daley has not started raising money.

* More money…

Among potential Republican candidates, state Treasurer Dan Rutherford reported $593,710 to start the year and has raised another $11,400 since Jan. 1, campaign reports show. Rutherford reported raising almost $218,000 in the final three months of the year.

State Sen. Bill Brady of Bloomington, the unsuccessful 2010 GOP nominee for governor who is considering another run, took in $52,948 over the quarter and had $77,140 to start the year.

State Sen. Kirk Dillard of Hinsdale, who narrowly lost to Brady in the 2010 primary, got $10,000 in seed money for his still-active gubernatorial campaign fund from horse racing impresario Richard Duchossois and his wife. But Dillard’s governor fund still shows debts of more than $360,000. Dillard’s state Senate campaign fund showed $12,569 available after raising $105,000 in the last quarter of the year. […]

U.S. Rep. Aaron Schock of Peoria, who also is mulling a Republican run for governor, did not file a state campaign report. But his last federal campaign report showed he had nearly $2.2 million in his congressional campaign fund through Nov. 26. Generally, federal campaign funds can be used for a state contest.

Bruce Rauner hasn’t opened a campaign account as of yet.

* Speaking of Schock and Rauner, the TV ad whacking Schock for his fiscal cliff deal vote is still resonating. Breitbart News…

Many conservative organizations sharply disagree with Schock’s and Shearer’s rationale for this and consider the deal a tax hike. Barney Keller, the spokesman for the Club for Growth–a powerful conservative group whose support or opposition is often the difference-maker in elections–told Breitbart News that Schock can’t spin his way out of this vote for the fiscal cliff deal.

“In 2012, the American people paid lower taxes, on income, on payroll, and on capital gains and dividends than in 2013,” Keller said. “He can spin it out however he wants, but he still voted for legislation that created higher taxes than last year. The evidence can be found right on the paychecks of his constituents.”

Heritage Action, another grassroots group with swagger in elections, considered the deal a tax increase too. “To be clear, this is a tax increase,” Heritage Action said when urging members of Congress to oppose the deal. “In 2013, the top marginal rate, death tax, and taxes on long-term capital gains and dividends will all be higher than in 2012. Comparing tax rates to hypothetical rates that have hardly any support is nothing more than misleading Washington spin.”

FreedomWorks opposed it as well. The group’s president Matt Kibbe signed a letter to its millions of nationwide members, asking them to push legislators to vote against the deal because the deal contained “tax hikes” and postponed the sequester.

Asked to respond to the conservative criticism of the deal from places like the Club for Growth, FreedomWorks, and Heritage Action, Shearer told Breitbart News, “no doubt you are aware that [the Club for Growth’s] former leader, Pat Toomey, now a U.S. Senator also voted for the same bill.”

posted by Rich Miller
Thursday, Jan 17, 13 @ 10:02 am

Comments

We think Grover is saying this is a tax cut so that should setle that. Meanwhile Schock looks like the moderate … a trick no GOPie in IL has tryed quite awhile.
We are still betting he bought the ads himself becuase none of the other GOPies mentioned above are that fleet footed.

Comment by CircularFiringSquad Thursday, Jan 17, 13 @ 10:13 am
I would disagree with “better the devil you know”. You never know what Quinn’s going to do.

Comment by RNUG Thursday, Jan 17, 13 @ 10:17 am
Let’s see: Club for Growth, Redstate, Breitbart, Heritage, FreedomWorks. And Schock’s people still think Rauner was behind it?

You’ve got some problems when you’re being hit and you can’t figure out who is throwing the punches.

Comment by 47th Ward Thursday, Jan 17, 13 @ 10:21 am
Just in Money -

Dillard - When you owe over $300K, and are carrying that debt, and we are a bit over a year away from a dirty, rough and tumble drag-out primary (I wish every day that it won’t, but I am a realist!), what vendors and what services are you going to secure carrying that much debt on the ledger? In reality, you are “in the financial ‘hole’…” and if you decide to start ANOTHER committee, at what point can you say money is not an issue. Get on the phone, “Gentleman from DuPage”!

Rutherford - Not a “bad” start, over $500k available, but now, today, if you aren’t tapping those Romney Illinois donors, and have them locked in tight for financial support for you, and you only, that $500K will not be the seed money to build to $5 to $6 million you may need, as a start, to get through a very expensive Primary.

Schock - Congressman, if you ask me, and you haven’t, and I know you won’t, but I think “Mr. Chairman” sounds so much better than “Citizen” or even for you, “Governor”. Sir, you are working your way up the congressional ladder, you are young, and young is real good for you and your state as you serve on Ways and Means. $2.2 million and THAT district means 10 more years of seniority and a chance to get to be “Mr. Chairman” before you turn 40! Now, let’s forget the Dopey way your “supporters” acted on Rich’s site the other day, forget that, but realize, Congressman, this is going to be real, real hardball, and if you raise $10 million, Rauner still may outspend you 5 to 1,and you are not guaranteed to get a “good draw” of an opponent in the General on the Dem side. Just think, posture if you want, pound your chest like a gorilla, but stay put. We all, in Illinois, would like to have the Chairman of Ways to be from Illinois once again.

Rutherford and Dillard are in “trouble” but not sunk, but Fellas, get on it, and make sure YOUR #2 helps a heck alot more than Plummer helped Brady, especially when Brady could have used a partner. Money and a strong #2 search, that is your mission; good luck.

Comment by Oswego Willy Thursday, Jan 17, 13 @ 10:24 am
- You’ve got some problems when you’re being hit and you can’t figure out who is throwing the punches. -

Well, it’s hard to see when you’re crying as much as Schock is.

Comment by Small Town Liberal Thursday, Jan 17, 13 @ 10:27 am
–But Dillard’s governor fund still shows debts of more than $360,000. –

Nearly three years after the primary? And the next one coming in a little more than a year?

He better take care of that soon, or his GOP opponents will shred him over it.

Comment by wordslinger Thursday, Jan 17, 13 @ 11:01 am
“he still voted for legislation that created higher taxes than last year”

Higher rates for 2013 were already built into the tax code. The legislation in question was a tax cut (albeit, not across-the-board, but still), NOT an increase. That’s not “spin,” that’s just reality. Even Grover Norquist accepts that logic, for crying out loud!!

Comment by grand old partisan Thursday, Jan 17, 13 @ 11:06 am
I’m not convinced Governor Quinn will face serious opposition in the primary, especially from any potential primary opponents who live in Chicago, no longer has the other Jr. around, & back issues popular to the left.

That candidate could hunker down with Harold’s legacy to plan a run against Rahm.

Comment by Kasich Walker, Jr. Thursday, Jan 17, 13 @ 11:07 am
===I’m not convinced Governor Quinn will face serious opposition in the primary…===

I would be shocked if Quinn did NOT face a strong, credible, well-financed, “alternative” in the Dem primary.

To the Dems -

Governor, this might be the time to really soak up every dollar possible from all the factions you haven’t angered yet. This is not the time for $50 or $100 “fun-raisers”, you need the $5-$10K “Talk to your governor and plead your case” FUNDraisers. If you are below $5 million come petition time, maybe thinking about “life after Governor” should be on your radar.

Lisa Madigan - Of all specifically mentioned, you seem to be in the best position, finantially. No large debt, a large starting point with over $3 million, and an unlimited base to raise money from Dem donors upset with Quinn, and moderate Repubs, refusing to give One Dime to the ILGOP, or any ILGOP candidate (After the last two cycles, how can ya, but I digress…), your pool in the next six months alone is quite fertile to harvest some serious cash. You are also, of all mentioned politicos, today, with all that is given, the best to attempt to try to keep up with Rauner, including the GOP candidates in the primary. You are not a billionaire, and money is not unlimited, but we have seen the road littered with high rolling “Wanna-be” candidates that seem to wilt, even with the money, to a seasoned, well-run, solid candidate and candidacy. Money-wise, you are in the best position, but you don’t need me to know that!

Comment by Oswego Willy Thursday, Jan 17, 13 @ 11:19 am
Not that it will inspire fear into anyone, but it looks like Brady has another 200K in his statewide account. So that’s 277K total. Still, only 50K raised recently seems less-than-serious for a guy that sounds like he’s running again.

Comment by Amuzing Myself Thursday, Jan 17, 13 @ 11:25 am
If Quinn faces makes it through the primary opponent you’ll basically have 2 GOP candidates.

And people view anyone who opposes a the “two-party” restriction and advocates for a third party is not credible…. sad

I wonder if Quinn’s Chamber and Civic Fed kindred spirits will stick with him in a general election?

Comment by Crime Fighter Thursday, Jan 17, 13 @ 11:37 am
I haven’t studied the latest iteration of the election code closely but I’m under the impression that Schock’s federal money would no longer be eligible for use in a Gubernatorial, or am I mistaken? His gubernatorial account should now be in accordance with the new contribution limits so the only amount he could move from his federal account to his state account would be the PAC limit right? Like I said I haven’t looked at the code but unless there’s a provision I’m not aware of Schock should be limited to transferring no more than $52,600 from his federal account to his state account under the current contribution limits, right?

Comment by The Captain Thursday, Jan 17, 13 @ 12:32 pm
Dillard has knocked off over $1M of 2010 Governor campaign debt. The only remaining debt is that to his Campaign Chairman, Ron Gidwitz (if that is really debt at all) and to a vendor he continually uses. Don’t forget that Dillard was forced to use over $500k on his hotly contested 2012 Senate Primary and also gave tens of thousands of dollars to his Senate colleagues and other challengers this fall.

Dillard, whenever he has had to, has always been able to raise the money he needed, in any capacity, whether as DuPage County Republican Chairmen, a Senate or Gubernatorial candidate.

Comment by Cincinnatus Thursday, Jan 17, 13 @ 12:37 pm
Willy-

It’s only really debt if you are asked to repay it. About $200K of it is to Ron Gidwitz. If he supports Dillard again he won’t be asking for repayment. It’s essentially a donation.
http://www.elections.il.gov/CampaignDisclosure/ItemizedDebt.aspx?FiledDocID=490764&D2Part=9A&OrderBy=LastorOnlyName-AtoZ&ItemizedDebtFrom=D2Quarterly.aspx

It looks like Addlex and Xpress Professional Services are vendors, and that he’s start to repay them. If I were them I’d be pissed that a sitting Senator and Partner at Lord Bissell took so long to pay me back.

Quinn carries about $31,000 in debt, some of which dates back to 1986. It’s unlikely it will be repaid. But for the several $100K loans he got from Ed Burke and Emil Jones the deal is if you lose it’s a donation and maybe you can repay me. If you win, give me my money back.

Comment by WizzardOfOzzie Thursday, Jan 17, 13 @ 12:41 pm
If all the right wingnuts, Red State, Freedom Works etc, etc were behind this, why only Schock out of 85 Republican members of Congress who voted for this? Why would an Ohio outfit pick an Illinois Congressman to spend money on negative ads when many members from Ohio voted the same way as Schock? This is all about the Republican race for Illinois Governor.

Comment by Mulligan Thursday, Jan 17, 13 @ 12:46 pm
- WizzardOfOzzie -,

Thanks.

So then, the $10K seed money, plus the $12K available has him at nearly $23K, after paying back over 100K last reporting period.

My point? Dillard having $23K, paying off over $1M overall since 2010, as posted by - cinncinnatus -, whom I would not question about factual items of Dillard, my point still rings true. At this point, wether Gidwitz wants his cash, or the vendors want to get paid, its not like Dillard is sitting on, today, this reporting period, a million, or even hundreds of thousands of dollars. Dillard has some very serious work to do, and that “debt” or “donation” or however Dillard will calssify it, comes into play as Rauner or Rutherford or others are building.

Not counting Dillard out, but come petition time, where is Dillard goig to be? Will the money be there “by sundown tomorrow”? Legitimate comcern about Dillard, factoring in others scraping cash in that same pool.

If you say, “He’ll be fine”, Dillard has sung that song before.

Comment by Oswego Willy Thursday, Jan 17, 13 @ 1:00 pm
Norquist says it wasn’t a tax hike. Schock made permanent the vast majority of the bush tax cuts. People who voted against the deal were in reality voting for all taxes to go up, because that is what would have happened had the deal not passed. So this is all hysterics from the far right, and rauner is apparently buying into that. Doesn’t really seem like he has what it takes to win a statewide general election in Illinois

Comment by roberto Thursday, Jan 17, 13 @ 1:50 pm
I’m interested in Roberto’s IP location. I’m guessing Arlington, VA again. That is totally silly. If it was Rauner, he got a hit on Schock that obviously got him really worked up and has gotten more play than a $30K ad buy should get. I’ll say it again, if it was Rauner, I’m extremely impressed and it actually shows that he DOES have what it takes to win a Republican primary. Smart $$$ spent.

Comment by WizzardOfOzzie Thursday, Jan 17, 13 @ 2:15 pm
Who cares what Grover says anymore? They raised the top marginal tax rate, meaning that he lost the fight and has to save face.

Comment by snucka Thursday, Jan 17, 13 @ 4:42 pm