Loose rules on campaign cash have allowed legislative leaders in Springfield to consolidate their power and protect incumbents by directing the flow of money to preferred candidates. | Brian Cassella/Chicago Tribune
By RAY LONG and RICK PEARSON | Chicago Tribune
At the Democratic National Convention in Chicago, the importance of money in national politics was clear, from the appeals made at fancy fundraisers to the unrelenting streams of video ads and text messages.
But in Illinois, big money is inundating politics at a pace that virtually puts government offices in the Land of Lincoln up for sale.
Few states invite politicians to raise and spend so aggressively as Illinois, where large infusions of cash led by billionaire Democratic Gov. JB Pritzker and his billionaire Republican enemies are enabled by loose rules and feeble enforcement standards that tempt politicians to push the limits of campaign finance boundaries.
As part of the ongoing series “Culture of Corruption,” which explores how Illinois’ voracious politics, structural flaws and tepid oversight set the state apart, the lack of meaningful campaign finance reform has repeatedly been identified as a key factor.
In this state:
- Campaign contribution limits, approved only 15 years ago, are easily circumvented by a common maneuver political insiders call “the money bomb,” meaning the restrictions are essentially ignored.
- Politicians use their campaign funds to legally launder cash so donors can obscure their identities and get around contribution limits to send more money to their allies.
- Legislative measures to control campaign spending — often announced with great fanfare — are repeatedly buried or watered down by the very lawmakers who would be bound by them.
- Election laws banning political action committees from coordinating with the candidates they support fail to define “coordination.”
- The state agency charged with enforcing election laws has little authority to launch its own investigations or levy tangible penalties that might deter violators.
The flood of money pouring into the state’s pliable political system has created a raucous campaign environment where the last two races for Illinois governor have become the most and third-most expensive governor’s races in the nation, and, in 2022, allowed the incumbent governor to spend as much as he wanted to help pick the Republican rival he correctly thought would be easiest to defeat.
It has permitted legislative leaders in Springfield to consolidate their power and protect incumbents by weaponizing political donation rules meant to ensure fair play and directing the flow of cash to preferred candidates.
It allows indicted politicians, including two of the longest-serving elected officials in state history, to pay for their criminal lawyers with campaign cash and, if they are convicted of public corruption, to use those same funds to pay heavy fines.
Read more here.