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Campaign cash disclosure lacking in Senate race

Treasurer Alexi Giannoulias raised $521,340 and Chicago attorney Jacob Meister raised $53,511 as the Senate candidates campaigned in the last three months of 2009, but the public won't likely know who gave the money until after the Feb. 2 primary.

That is because Giannoulias and Meister chose to file a campaign finance disclosure report that details only the first 13 days of this year's fundraising. The one-term statewide officeholder and the political newcomer could have filed - as did other candidates for the seat from both parties - a report that also detailed who was contributing to their campaign for Oct. 1 to Dec. 31. But they chose instead to report that information on Jan. 31, meaning the information is not likely to become public until after the election.

The Federal Election Commission gave all candidates the option to put off reports for the final quarter of 2009, but so far, only Giannoulias and Meister appear to have taken the agency up on the offer.

Chicago Inspector General David Hoffman, a Democrat, as well as Republicans U.S. Rep. Mark Kirk and Hinsdale businessman Patrick Hughes all filed reports disclosing details on all their fundraising from Oct. 1 to Jan. 13.

Reports for other candidates were not yet available, apparently due to delays in a cumbersome filing process with the U.S. Senate that involves hard-copy submissions and scanning numerous documents as opposed to direct electronic filing for House candidates.

Campaign spokeswomen for Meister and Giannoulias blamed time constraints for the decision to go with the later date for detailing the last three months of 2009.

Giannoulias spokeswoman Kati Phillips said, "Given the time constraints of the early primary, we filed what was legally required to date, and will file additional information January 31st in compliance with the law."

Meister spokeswoman Karen Craven said, "We are still putting that together."

Cindi Canary, director of the watchdog Illinois Campaign for Political Reform, said that is no excuse.

"Just because the FEC gives you a pass doesn't mean you can't think better of it," she said. "Voters deserve to know where their candidates' interests are, who is backing them. It is a fundamental premise of our election system. This is a disserve to the voters."

Canary blamed not only the candidates, but the FEC and the decision to move Illinois' primary up to February from March in 2008.

FEC spokesman Christian Hilland says Illinois' early Feb. 2 primary threw the normal reporting schedule out of whack. He said commission members decided to mandate a pre-primary report covering the first 13 days of the month, but allow candidates to file the final quarter of 2009 by the regular deadline of Jan. 31.

"As a result of this early February primary election, the FEC was trying to be flexible by giving committees the option of filing a consolidated report or two separate reports," Hilland says.

Meanwhile, the amount of cash pouring into the race to replace U.S. Sen. Roland Burris, who was appointed to replace Barack Obama, is considerable.

In all, Giannoulias raised $2.6 million so far in his campaign, with nearly $100,000 coming in the first two weeks of the year. He had nearly a million dollars in the bank as of Jan. 13.

Meister reported raising about $74,000 in addition to the $1 million he is putting in the campaign of his own money, according to reports provided by the campaign.

Hoffman reported raising $1.2 million and putting $1 million of his own money on the line. Hoffman had $738,930 on hand as of Jan. 13.

That mid-January cash for Hoffman and Giannoulias is fueling a late blitz of TV ads aimed in part at tearing down each other.

Reports for former Chicago Urban League President Cheryle Jackson, Burr Ridge radiologist Robert Marshall and Chicago attorney Jacob Meister weren't yet available to the public Monday.

On the Republican side, Kirk is dominating the five-candidate field in terms of cash. He has raised nearly $5 million in his run and still had just over $3 million in the bank as of Jan. 13. He has not been spending much money on advertising in a campaign where he has locked up nearly all of the GOP establishment's backing.

Hughes has put $250,000 of his own cash on the line and raised another quarter of a million dollars. He had just over $22,000 on hand as of Jan. 13. The newcomer to politics has been running cable TV ads, particularly on Fox, claiming Kirk is a Democrat in Republican clothing. He won the backing of the national Conservative Victory Fund Monday.

Downstate judge Don Lowery has raised $20,000, former Harvey Alderman John Harrington had raised about $16,000 as of Sept. 30, Springfield activist Kathleen Thomas raised about $26,000 and Chicago blogger Andy Martin has not filed any disclosure reports. Martin said the reports were being filed.