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* The Illinois Campaign for Political Reform has a new database called “Illinois Sunshine,” which has over 20 years of campaign finance data.

It’s a pretty cool little tool. Click here to check it out and then report back what you find.

posted by Rich Miller
Wednesday, Aug 5, 15 @ 9:17 am

Comments

Did some clickin’ (as ordered) and we could not find information on how an “independent expenditure committee” can have an on-camera, one on one, private interview in a TV ad and not violate the law. Perhaps the Crusade for Political Honesty — or whatever they call themselves — can explain and make file a complaint with the state board of elections. The penalty is forfeiting all $$$.

Comment by Anonin' Wednesday, Aug 5, 15 @ 9:27 am
The all-time fundraising champ is Citizens for Rauner at $89.6 million.

The highest current funds are Citizens for Rauner at $19.6 million and IllinoisGO at $9 million.

Comment by Wordslinger Wednesday, Aug 5, 15 @ 9:27 am
I hate when people call campaign contributions donations like it’s some sort of positive or charitable support or they’ll be writing it off at the end of the year.

Comment by Anon Wednesday, Aug 5, 15 @ 9:29 am
Wow, Ed Burke’s numbers are pretty mind blowing for his position.

Comment by burbanite Wednesday, Aug 5, 15 @ 9:31 am
Rauner is on a increasingly longer list of oligarchs who spend big bucks to buy elections they wouldn’t otherwise have a chance in. Government for sale..

Comment by Mouthy Wednesday, Aug 5, 15 @ 9:33 am
Loved the site. Found donations to campaigns to be accurate, well-formatted in size order, easily searchable. “Related committees” also a good feature. Found campaign expenditures incomplete. Don’t know why that might be.

Comment by walker Wednesday, Aug 5, 15 @ 9:45 am
Pretty much just takes every thing available through the state board site and puts it in an easy to use form. Actually this is what the state board site should look like. They did a good job.

Comment by Been There Wednesday, Aug 5, 15 @ 9:48 am
Citizens for Rauner:

Spent $300,000.00 on May 08, 2015 Bruce Rauner Refund of Contribution

****

Just found it interesting:)

Comment by Anon221 Wednesday, Aug 5, 15 @ 9:49 am
What happens when a candidate becomes deceased? JBT has $843K in her fund.

Comment by Bogey Golfer Wednesday, Aug 5, 15 @ 9:56 am
Much easier website to navigate than the ISBE site. I appreciate the table format and providing all of the data on a single screen.
Yet another instance of the private sector besting the public sector.

Comment by Jake From Elwood Wednesday, Aug 5, 15 @ 10:04 am
Cool, easy-to-use format. Makes it fun to look at numbers.
Like burbanite, I found the Ed Burke’s numbers to be intriguing too. Crazy high.
The Rauner numbers were just as shocking as expected. I plan on going back and do more looking just out of curiosity.

Comment by Belle Wednesday, Aug 5, 15 @ 10:17 am
Jake, I don’t think it’s that simple. Anything brand-new should be an improvement on the original. And these guys don’t have statutory duties; they can choose what they want to do.

Comment by Wordslinger Wednesday, Aug 5, 15 @ 10:19 am
Word, you are correct on both points of course, but the ISBE website has been a particular pet peeve of mine for some time and this is such an improvement.

Comment by Jake From Elwood Wednesday, Aug 5, 15 @ 10:56 am
ah, the Burnham Committee.

Comment by Amalia Wednesday, Aug 5, 15 @ 11:37 am
that is 1000 times easier than the State Board site. Its like they actually want you to find the information your looking for.

Comment by Spliff Wednesday, Aug 5, 15 @ 11:39 am
Already proving useful as it found a questionable contribution that had not been properly disclosed. Thanks for sharing here.

Comment by Bluefish Wednesday, Aug 5, 15 @ 11:40 am
Right at the top heading bar, the word “received” is misspelled. What a credibility killer.

Comment by aufjunk Wednesday, Aug 5, 15 @ 1:47 pm
Should have said “top heading bar for Receipts”

Comment by aufjunk Wednesday, Aug 5, 15 @ 1:49 pm
I can’t wait to see how that JBT money gets doled out, and who does the doling. It will likely NOT be consistent with the committee’s organizational statement regarding the disposition of the remaining funds. Was the current chairman of the committee named chairman before or after JBT died? Lots of interesting legal implications on this one.

Comment by Working class voter Wednesday, Aug 5, 15 @ 3:16 pm
Very good, easy to navigate. I easily found how much I’ve donated through the years. Ouch!

Comment by Beenthereseenthat Wednesday, Aug 5, 15 @ 3:26 pm
I’ve been hanging out on the site on and off today, some features that’s are considerably easier to use, and going back 20 years, checked that out… I like that a lot too.

Comment by Oswego Willy Wednesday, Aug 5, 15 @ 3:47 pm