THE ILLINOIZE: Monday Free for All: Petition filing begins this morning...Harmon-affiliated PAC gets near record fine for misdeeds in Supreme Court elections...Pate Philip
November 27, 2023
Good morning, Illinois.
Welcome back. Except to those of you reading this email from the line outside of the State Board of Elections office in Springfield to file petitions where the temperature is currently in the 20’s. Rough morning to be a young staffer.
We’ll be following along the petition filings today on our website. Just click here to join along.
There are seven days to file petitions, 113 days to the March primary, and 344 days to the November general election.
The General Assembly is out until January. Governor Pritzker does a “fireside chat” with Crain’s Chicago Business at the Hilton Chicago at 12:30.
Don’t forget, our newsletters on Tuesday, Wednesday, and Friday are behind the pay wall. Click below to join us!
Let’s get to it.
YOUR MONDAY FREE FOR ALL
(note: we’re not responsible for paywalls and restrictions from other news outlets, because good journalism isn’t free)
Candidate filing begins Monday, signaling official start of 2024 election cycle (Capitol News Illinois)
Monday morning marks the official beginning of the 2024 election cycle in Illinois, opening up the week-long period when candidates for local, state, congressional and judicial races are required to turn in the signatures they’ve spent the last two months collecting to get on the ballot.
The first day of petition filing has traditionally taken on a party atmosphere, as candidates and staff line up outside the Illinois State Board of Elections office in Springfield, where the line often reaches past the Chuck E. Cheese storefront, roughly 100 yards down from the board’s entrance in the capital city strip mall.
Those who get in line before 8 a.m. are entered into a lottery drawing to be placed atop the ballot for their respective position. The lottery drawing is scheduled for Dec. 13.
Though many candidates line up before filing opens, elections board spokesperson Matt Dietrich said he hasn’t seen any studies that prove being first on a primary ballot actually provides any advantage.
“Primary voters tend to be the most informed voters,” he said. “So these are the voters are most likely to know which candidates are on their primary ballot and they're the voters who are most likely to have already made up their minds before they go into the polling place.”
Candidates can file petitions to be on the ballot from Nov. 27 through Dec. 4 at the elections office for any of the 17 U.S. House of Representatives seats, 141 Illinois General Assembly seats or 77 judicial vacancies.
After filing, the board opens a period for challenges to candidate petitions. Typically, opponents or party operatives will attempt to knock a newcomer off the ballot for signatures that may not have been collected properly, or in some cases are proven to be fraudulent.
The board will certify the primary ballot at its January meeting and the primary election is scheduled for March 19.
The grumpy old man who’s been around Illinois politics since 2005 says this whole filing charade is dumb, but, hey, when isn’t Illinois politics dumb?
Related: Petition Filing Tracker (The Illinoize)
Ready, set, line up: Monday is the start of candidate filings for the March primary (State Journal-Register)
Candidates lining up to succeed Kim Foxx as Cook County state’s attorney (Chicago Tribune)
Democratic PAC shifts cash out of its account as it gets hit with one of the biggest state election board fines ever (Chicago Tribune)
A political committee that helped expand the Democratic majority on the Illinois Supreme Court and was backed by Illinois Senate President Don Harmon emptied its bank account just weeks after being notified it faced one of the largest state election fines ever for failing to timely disclose millions of dollars it spent until after last November’s election.
On Tuesday, the State Board of Elections issued a final order assessing $99,500 in fines against the All for Justice political action committee. The action followed a Tribune story earlier this year detailing the PAC’s reporting deficiencies as it spent more than $7.3 million on independent expenditures supporting Democratic Justices Elizabeth Rochford and Mary Kay O’Brien, both of whom won their campaigns and increased the court’s Democratic majority to 5-2 from a previous 4-3 advantage.
All for Justice was notified Aug. 3 by the state elections board it would be fined for 35 specific violations of failing to timely disclose to the public its spending on behalf of Rochford and O’Brien in the crucial closing months before the November 2022 election.
The PAC was given 30 days to appeal or seek a reduction in the fines, but did not do so. Instead, on Aug. 31, it transferred its remaining cash balance of $149,516 to another independent expenditure committee, Chicago Independent Alliance, a PAC that has been dormant since July 2019, six months after it was created.
All for Justice and the Chicago Independent Alliance share the same Chicago address as the Andreou & Casson law firm. Documents show Luke Casson, a founding partner of the law firm, as chair and treasurer of All for Justice. On his previous LinkedIn profile, which is no longer active, Casson listed himself as “counsel for the office of the president of the Illinois Senate,” who is Harmon, and political director of the Democratic Party of Oak Park, which is Harmon’s political base.
State election board officials said they moved forward with a final order to assess the fines against All for Justice — despite its empty bank account — by citing a provision in its administrative rules that makes the officers of a PAC “personally liable” for civil penalties if the PAC “lends or donates funds to a second political committee” while it owes fines to the State Board of Elections.
Casson is the only officer of the All for Justice PAC, according to state election records.
When Don Harmon eventually pays this fine, and he will eventually pay this fine, it will be a drop in the bucket. Our campaign finance laws and penalties are feckless and weak.
Related: Editorial: PAC's shenanigans another sign of political class' disrespect for law, Illinois (Champaign News-Gazette)
'Larger than life': Illinois GOP icon James 'Pate' Philip Jr. has died (Daily Herald)
Former state Senate President James Peyton "Pate" Philip Jr. was a powerful suburban Republican at a time when that really meant something in Illinois.
Philip led the Senate from 1993 to 2003 -- the longest-serving Republican in that post. He was the last Republican to hold the job, retiring from elected service as Democrats took power in Springfield at the onset of a blue wave that hasn't yet receded.
Philip, 93, died Tuesday at his Wood Dale home. His wife, Nancy, reportedly was by his side.
An Elmhurst native, Philip was a U.S. Marine who served in the early 1950s. After his military service, he attended Kansas State University and worked as a district sales manager for Pepperidge Farm Bakeries.
Philip was a lifelong Republican who began his political career in 1965 as York Township auditor. He was elected to the state House the following year and to the state Senate in 1975.
Philip was named the Senate's Republican leader in 1993, holding that title until being elected senate president. His time in that post coincided with Elmhurst Republican Lee A. Daniels' stint as House speaker, making DuPage County the state's epicenter of GOP politics in the mid-1990s.
Philip also served as the DuPage County Republican Party Chairman for more than 30 years.
The cigar-smoking, silver-haired Philip was a physical symbol of old-school politics. From time to time he expressed views or made comments that countered the growing political correctness of the era.
Philip drew controversy in 1993 when he suggested then-state Attorney General Roland Burris did not prosecute U.S. Sen. Carol Moseley-Braun after allegations of Medicaid fraud arose because they're both Black.
The following year, Philip again created racial tensions when he told the Daily Herald's editorial board that some minorities in the Department of Children and Family Services "don't have the same work ethics that we have."
Philip often targeted Chicago and its multicultural population. He once compared sending tax dollars to Chicago schools to pouring money down a "rat hole."
Former state Sen. Christine Radogno of Lemont described Philip as "a larger-than-life figure."
"He was sometimes gruff and rough, but I really do believe he had a good heart," said Radogno, who served in the Senate for 20 years, including as GOP leader after Philip's time in the role.
Related: Former Illinois State Senate President James ‘Pate’ Philip dead at 93 (Chicago Sun-Times)
James ‘Pate’ Philip, former Illinois Senate president who once symbolized suburban Republicanism, dies (Chicago Tribune)
Pate Philip, towering figure in Illinois Republican politics, dies (WGN-TV)
LAST WEEK ON THEILLINOIZE.COM
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Republican enters race for Bennett's [former] Senate seat (Champaign News-Gazette)
Bailey seeks nomination to 104th District seat (Danville Commercial-News)
Schweizer seeks 104th District House seat (Danville Commercial-News)
Editorial: Wind farms in Lake Michigan make no economic sense. Springfield ought to sink that idea. (Chicago Tribune)
Editorial: Pritzker steps in to clean up Chicago’s asylum-seeker mess (Crain’s Chicago Business)
Editorial: A once-servile regulator delivers a welcome message to local utilities to stop the spending binge (Chicago Tribune)
Opinion: Properly funding public schools should always be a long-term process (Shaw Media)
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