Big-money campaigners could face limits

SPRINGFIELD — Suburban lawmakers who won the highest-profile, big-money legislative campaigns did so with cash largely provided by their party leaders, a trend some good government groups would like to change.

Sen. Michael Noland of Elgin, for example, got $664,713 from Democrats in his winning campaign, more than 75 percent of his total campaign spending between July 1 and Dec. 31, 2010, according to numbers released by the Illinois Campaign for Political Reform. In Lake County, Suzi Schmidt of Lake Villa got $374,653 from Republican leadership, about 67 percent of what she spent during the same period. Other hotly contested races saw similar totals.

Critics say lawmakers who get cash from their party leaders are beholden to those leaders. But even though Noland received thousands of dollars from Senate President John Cullerton to help with his campaign, Noland bucked his party on what was probably the highest-profile vote of the year — voting against the income tax increase in January.

“I never sensed that he was twisting my arm to vote one way or the other, he's always been very sensitive to the nature and demographics of my district,” Noland said. “If you don't vote your constituents, you won't be here long.”

Still, Noland is a co-sponsor of plans to limit how much party leaders could give candidates during a general election. A hearing on the measure is scheduled for Wednesday.

But because Illinois' first-ever limit on how much individuals, businesses and unions can give just took effect in January, lawmakers might not have a huge appetite for more changes.

Sen. Don Harmon, an Oak Park Democrat, said the General Assembly should see how the new limitations affect campaigns before adding more. A task force will report the effectiveness of the limitations after the 2012 and 2014 elections.

Harmon said it is important to review the process and make necessary changes, but the notion party leaders control members' votes through contributions is a “complete red herring.”

“It's obvious Democrats would like Democrats to be elected to the General Assembly ... but the fact is once folks are elected they have to represent their district,” Harmon said. “And that often means going against the prevailing winds of their party leadership.”

David Morrison, associate director of Illinois Campaign for Political Reform, said while lawmakers such as Noland will vote against leadership at times, they will also often follow along.

“The goal is not to take money out of elections so much as to ensure money doesn't influence policy after the election,” Morrison said. “Whenever a candidate takes an outside source of money, their votes are going to be suspect.”

Sen. Schmidt said that while she benefitted from GOP leaders in her campaign, limits on those contributions could better level the playing field between candidates and potentially shorten the campaign season.

“Honestly, I would like the campaign season to last like a month and if they said you can only spend $50,000, I would be happy as a clam,” she said.