Back when the reformers demanded that state campaign contributions be capped, they said it would limit the dollars flowing into Illinois political funds.
But contributions have only barely decreased from four years ago, according to a search of the Illinois Board of Elections’ database. That may have as much to do with the economy these days compared with what it was in 2007, when Illinois’ unemployment rate was half what it is now.
The search shows that about $55.6 million was contributed to campaigns during the last six months of 2011, while the amount was about $57.3 million during the same period in 2007.
House Speaker Michael Madigan (D-Chicago) raised $2.6 million for the three campaign funds he controls during the past three months. Madigan now has a total of $4 million in cash, which puts him far ahead of anybody else. Four years ago (at the same point in our national and state election cycles), Madigan had $1.3 million in cash. There were no contribution caps four years ago.
And a whole bunch of money is avoiding those caps by being spread around to newly formed political action committees and to some local committees that have never before seen much, if any, activity.
For a somewhat extreme example of what appears to be happening in our capped environment, let’s take a look at contributions made during the latest quarter by Ken and Anne Griffin, a wealthy Chicago couple who gave heavily to House Republicans in 2010.
Before I go further, though, I want to make it very clear that nothing the Griffins did was illegal or even unethical. It all appears to be well within the law. I only point this out to show how silly it is to think that we can cap all the money coming into the system. Money always finds a way around caps.
Read More: http://southtownstar.suntimes.com/10136391-522/miller-campaign-donation-caps-making-little-difference.html
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