IL-8

Second Quarter Fundraising Figures

Progress Illinois — Fri, 17 Jul 2009 08:27:13 -0700

The federal filing deadline for the second quarter of 2009 passed this week. Below you'll find the relevant totals for the U.S. Senate race as well as several potentially competitive House races:

Giannoulias' $1.6 million in cash-on-hand has already attracted some headlines, particularly considering that the other talked-about Democratic contenders -- Chicago Urban League President Cheryle Jackson and Merchandise Mart Properties CEO Chris Kennedy -- have yet to start fundraising.

Meanwhile, State Sen. Michael Bond's lackluster fundraising numbers in the 10th Congressional District also raised some eyebrows. But as Capitol Fax noted yesterday, that total only represents a month's worth of fundraising and he plans to pick up the pace once Kirk officially launches his Senate bid on Monday:

Bond told me today he hopes to push hard and fast after Kirk finally announces and quickly report new fundraising numbers. That’s an absolute must.

You'll also notice that both Democrat Scott Harper and Republican Ethan Hastert (son of former House Speaker Dennis Hastert) have begun raising money for their respective campaigns in the 13th and 14th congressional districts. Both are off to a slow start, but we'll have to wait and see what they bring in during the 3rd quarter.

Congressional Endorsement Round-Up (UPDATED)

Angela Caputo — Thu, 23 Oct 2008 11:41:37 -0700

Editorial boards at some of the state's largest papers have begun announcing their picks for Congress. The Beachwood Reporter's Steve Rhodes makes a good point when he says some of the choices will probably lead readers to check the front page to see if they've got the right paper

The Sun-Times, which describes the paper's editorial voice as "The Progressive Independent Conscience of the City," is backing Republican candidates in three out of the five most contentious congressional races it's weighed in on thus far. Meanwhile, the Tribune board is endorsing some liberal Democrats in three out of five of the state's most heated congressional contests. Following is a run-down (updated on 10/29):

6th District: The Tribune, Daily Herald, and Des Plaines Journal back Democrat Jill Morgenthaler, while the Sun-Times favors Republican incumbent Peter Roskam.

8th District: Both the Tribune and Sun-Times choose Democratic incumbent Melissa Bean over her Republican challenger Steve Greenberg.

10th District: The Tribune, Sun-Times, and Daily Herald favor Republican incumbent Mark Kirk over Democrat Dan Seals. The Des Plaines Journal supports Seals.

11th District: The Tribune and Sun-Times line up behind Republican Marty Ozinga over Democrat Debbie Halvorson and the Green Party's Jason Wallace. The SouthtownStar endorses Halvorson.

13th District: The Tribune, Sun-Times, Daily Herald endorse Republican incumbent Judy Biggert over Democrat Scott Harper and Green Party candidate Steve Alesch.

14th District: The Tribune, Sun-Times, and Daily Herald favor Democratic incumbent Bill Foster over Republican Jim Oberweis.

18th District: Tribune endorses Republican Aaron Schock over Democrat Colleen Callahan.

Rhodes sums up the lack of continuity between the Trib and Sun-Times this way:

In the end, it seems, institutional history and marketing labels don't account for much; both papers are similarly -- even drearily -- located on the political spectrum. Maybe we shouldn't be surprised by any of their endorsements anymore.

Third Quarter Fundraising Figures

Josh Kalven — Thu, 16 Oct 2008 08:11:56 -0700

Yesterday, marked the deadline for congressional candidates to file their quarterly fundraising reports. As in the first and second quarters, we've compiled the figures in the table below.

NOTE: The amount raised column in this table includes total contributions plus transfers from other political committees.

In most of the races, the fundraising dynamic looks much the same as last quarter. Reps. Bean and Roskam, as well as GOP challenger Aaron Schock, continue to significantly outraise their opponents. In the 10th District, Dan Seals posted another round of impressive numbers -- the highest of any Democratic U.S House candidate in the state -- but still not quite enough to keep pace with Rep. Kirk. Again, Scott Harper is nipping at the heels of 13th District GOP Rep. Judy Biggert.

The 11th District numbers are one of the few surprises. In the second quarter, Republican Marty Ozinga impressed a lot of observers with his $800K haul. This time around, Democrat Debbie Halvorson regained control of the money game by raising $577,000 to his $312,000. In order to keep his cash-on-hand in the black, Ozinga also loaned his campaign $250,000 of his own money -- bringing his total personal contribution this cycle to $320,000.

Another eyebrow-raiser was Jim Oberweis' absolutely dismal performance in the 14th District, where he didn't even manage to raise $100K. It seems fair to say that, despite his charm offensive, Republicans have given up on the ice cream man. But considering he loaned the campaign half-a-million dollars last quarter, it seems he hasn't lost faith in himself.

More On Those Federal Housing Funds

Adam Doster — Thu, 14 Aug 2008 07:51:25 -0700

Remember that mortgage relief bill that Rep. Peter Roskam voted against because, as he so eloquently put it, he didn't want Gov. Rod Blagojevich to be our landlord? As we noted, the position was bunk: the governor will have very little control over how the funds promised to Illinois cities and municipalities will be used. And while the details are still being ironed out, the Christian Science Monitor highlights a few of the projects local legislators are planning to enact once given their share of the promised $4 billion. Turns out, many of them sound pretty darn helpful.

Among the ideas forming: Baltimore intends to use some funds to gain control of the inventory of foreclosed homes within it's borders, Cleveland may demolish houses in blighted areas and then plan neighborhoods more thoughtfully, and Trenton, NJ officials want to rehabilitate abandoned lots and restore copper wiring that's has been stolen:

States and cities consider the funding a key to blunting the effect of foreclosures, seen in abandoned properties, inadequate rental housing, and deteriorating neighborhoods. For many locales, it will add leverage to their own efforts. Some community activists hope the money will also help to moderate home-price declines.

"For many communities impacted by homes already foreclosed on, this was viewed as the linchpin to turn the tide around," says David Berenbaum, executive vice president of the National Community Reinvestment Coalition in Washington. "It will augment state, private, and partnership funds."

There's no word yet on how much of the total appropriation will be sent to Illinois.

Steve Greenberg's Tax Hike Hyperbole

Adam Doster — Fri, 13 Jun 2008 13:44:55 -0700

During an appearance yesterday on the Illinois GOP Network's Blog Talk Radio show, Republican congressional challenger Steve Greenberg used a faulty GOP talking point to differentiate himself from 8th District Rep. Melissa Bean. He asserted that Democrats "just pushed through the largest tax increase in the history of this country, to the tune of over $600 billion," adding that Bean "drove the getaway car with Nancy Pelosi and Charlie Rangel in the back while the people’s money was in the trunk." Take a listen as he responds to a question from IL GOP Network founder Mark Johnson:

Internal mp3

Greenberg appears to be referring to the FY 2009 budget approved by the U.S. House along partisan lines last week. And he's not alone in his hyperbole; the day after the bill was approved, Rep. Dan Lungren (R-CA) accused Democrats of "the largest tax increase in the history of this Congress, which means in the history of this nation, which means in the history of the world." Rep. Adam Putnam (R-FL) also asserted that the budget "contains the single largest tax hike in American history."

So how did Greenberg, Lungren, and Putnam all arrive at this extraordinary claim?

Essentially, the 2001 and 2003 tax cuts pushed by a Republican-controlled Congress and signed into law by President Bush included a provision sunsetting the cuts on December 31, 2010. Unless future Congresses extended them, the tax rates would return to their previous levels. It's important to remember that the sunset provision allowed the GOP leadership to obscure the real cost of the cuts and therefore enlist more legislative support, as The Washington Post reported on May 24, 2003:

Indeed, by "sunsetting" all the tax cuts well before the bill's official 2013 expiration date, congressional tax writers took a measure that otherwise would have cost the Treasury more than $800 billion over the next decade and crammed it into a $350 billion price tag that could garner just enough support to pass the Senate.

While Democrats have said they will extend the tax cuts that benefit the middle class in their newest budget, they decided not to re-up the majority of Bush's cuts targeted at the country's wealthiest residents. And for good reason: according to the Center for American Progress (pdf), the hugely regressive cuts will have cost the U.S. $2 trillion by 2010 and contributed to our massive deficit.

But more to the point, letting legislation written by your opponents expire is not the same as deliberately raising taxes. It's intellectually dishonest to conflate the two. If Republicans were so worried about future "tax increases," they should have convinced more legislators to make those cuts permanent during Bush's first term.

Conservative Blogger Compares Rep. Bean To Robert Mugabe

Mose Buchele — Fri, 18 Apr 2008 11:48:19 -0700

In a post this morning on Illinois GOP Network, conservative blogger Warner Todd Huston really outdid himself: comparing Rep. Melissa Bean to African tyrant Robert Mugabe. To make sure readers don't get lost in the nuance of his vile argument, Huston even says it twice: "US Congressman Melissa Bean is beginning to act like the murdering tyrant, Robert Mugabe."

And what did Bean (or in Huston's words, "Beangabe") do to earn this comparison? Well, she introduced a bill this week to prohibit annoying political robocalls during dinner time. The Daily Herald offers a concise summary of what HR 5747 would accomplish:

- Prohibit such calls between 9 p.m. and 8 a.m.

- Ban more than two calls per day to the same phone number from the same candidate, party or interest group.

- Require the sponsor of the call to be clearly identified at the beginning of the call.

- Require the caller's phone number be displayed on the voter's caller ID system.

Huston posits that if the Founding Fathers were alive today to see Bean's legislation, they might "even have a hankering to tar and feather her as a tyrant. And I can’t say as I’d blame them."

Huston -- or whomever runs Illinois GOP Network -- probably should have checked on HR 5747's co-sponsors before running his inane, offensive diatribe. If they'd done so, they might have noticed that rank-and-file California Republican Rep. John Campbell has also thrown his support behind the bill. Somehow I doubt Campbell's going to get the same treatment anytime soon.

Greenberg Campaign In Shambles

Josh Kalven — Fri, 18 Apr 2008 09:05:46 -0700

As we pointed out in our fundraising roundup yesterday, in his bid to unseat Rep. Melissa Bean in the 8th Cong. District, Republican candidate Steve Greenberg only had $5,000 cash on hand at the end of March (as compared to Bean's $1.3 million war chest). And now, as Capitol Fax and others have noted, his campaign manager has jumped ship:

Brad Goodman's departure from the campaign's helm has been in the works for a while, said Greenberg, who's challenging two-term Democrat Melissa Bean for the 8th District House seat.

"We have a path and a plan for the general election, and we needed another look for that," said Greenberg, a Long Grove businessman.

Whatever Greenberg meant by "another look," he apparently doesn't need it too urgently:

Brad Goodman left the campaign's top staff position this week, and Greenberg said it will be "a few months" before he names an official replacement to lead the general election effort.

First Quarter Fundraising Figures

Josh Kalven — Thu, 17 Apr 2008 13:22:07 -0700

In the past week, we've reported on the trickle of first quarter fundraising numbers in Illinois' most competitive congressional races. Now that the filing deadline has passed and the Federal Election Commission has had a few days to catch up, all the numbers are available for the period beginning January 17 and ending March 31. We've compiled them in the table below:

Greenberg Stumbles In First Quarter Fundraising

Adam Doster — Thu, 17 Apr 2008 09:03:38 -0700

Still not convinced it's a Democratic year? A Politico article published today points to newly released fundraising numbers that show once-heralded GOP House challengers sagging far behind their opponents, illuminating the difficulty Republicans across the country are having revitalizing their tarnished brand:

Several of the GOP’s most highly touted candidates posted mediocre fundraising numbers in this year’s first quarter, raising questions about their ability to seriously compete in races that were once at the top of the Republican radar screen.

First on their list? Illinois' own Steve Greenberg in the 8th Congressional District:

Businessman Steve Greenberg, running against Rep. Melissa L. Bean (D-Ill.), is perhaps the most striking example of a recruit failing to live up to expectations. Once highly touted by National Republican Congressional Committee Chairman Tom Cole, Greenberg is a candidate Republicans hoped could run a strong campaign against Bean, fueled with his own money.

But Greenberg raised only $113,000 for the quarter and is nearly broke, with just $5,000 left in his campaign account. By contrast, Bean has $1.35 million in her campaign account. Given the financial disparity, the prospect of Greenberg being able to run a competitive race looks dimmer by the day.

Bean's not slowing down, either. FEC records showed that the Barrington Democrat took home a whopping $352,246 between Jan. 17 and March 31 -- more than three times what Greenberg raised. The article also highlights the race in Illinois' 10th Congressional District where, as we earlier noted, the candidates first quarter fundraising figures were more comparable:

Rep. Mark Kirk (R-Ill.) continues to lead Republicans in fundraising as he prepares for a tough reelection bid against Democrat Dan Seals. Kirk raised more than $738,000 in the quarter and now has nearly $2.3 million cash on hand. Seals raised $613,000 for the quarter and banked about $750,000.

"Lift Up," "Suck It Up": Steve Greenberg Builds His Brand

Mose Buchele — Mon, 07 Apr 2008 13:48:39 -0700

Republican congressional hopeful Steve Greenberg shared his plan for America today with students in two government and politics classes at Mundelein High School. Greenberg is hoping to unseat Democratic Rep. Melissa Bean in Illinois' 8th Congressional district this November. Judging from this account in The Daily Herald, his proposals sound more like a workout routine than an articulate policy platform:

The war was a particularly hot topic for the teens. One student asked what Greenberg would do about the U.S. occupation of Iraq; another questioned if it was right to force western culture on the Iraqi people.

"The Islamic people, the Iraqi people, are just like us," Green-berg [sic] said. "And it's our job to lift them up."

Domestic issues were a concern for students, too. One asked whether the government should help small businesses compete against super-sized retail chains such as Wal-Mart.

Small business owners need to "suck it up," Greenberg said, and create niches for themselves in the market.

The report didn't indicate whether anyone asked why it's the government's job to "lift up" Iraqis but not struggling American small businesses.

Greenberg did mention that these early days of his campaign have given him an opportunity to "build his brand." Apparently, part of the "Greenberg" brand involves him going out of his way to alienate small business owners.