Brown, Munoz disagree over court clerk employees’ campaign contributions

Whether it is appropriate for the Cook County clerk of the circuit court to accept campaign contributions from employees sparked a heated exchange between the two Democratic candidates.

Challenger Ricardo “Rick” Munoz, a Chicago alderman, criticized incumbent Dorothy Brown for accepting contributions from her employees. Speaking during a joint meeting with the Daily Herald Editorial Board, Munoz said 33 employees contributed more than $34,000 to her campaign.

Brown’s campaign said Munoz is wrong about that, and her campaign manager Peter Dagher countered that even if it were true it would represent a little more than 1 percent of total contributions to Brown since she first ran for office.

Dagher said Brown’s office does not track whether employees donate.

“Clerk Brown ended the decades-old practice of tracking contributions when she took office in 2001,” Dagher said. “We don’t keep any list as to how much an employee gives.”

He said Munoz has accepted tens of thousands of dollars in campaign contributions from city contractors and vendors. Munoz campaign manager Andrew Sharp disputes that charge, calling Dagher’s comments a “cynical attempt to distract voters from her (Brown’s) own history of corruption.”

Brown, who is running for her fourth term, has encountered such criticism before, when several employees complained they felt pressured to contribute to her campaign. Those complaints — which Brown says came from disgruntled workers — prompted an investigation by Cook County’s inspector general, who in a 2004 report found “no factual basis for the allegations” against her.

Brown said she neither solicits nor prohibits campaign contributions from her subordinates.

“I follow the campaign finance laws,” she said.

Accepting contributions from employees is wrong, said Munoz, who describes himself as a reformer.

The practice will end if he’s elected, Munoz said.

“Secretary of State Jesse White and Attorney General Lisa Madigan prohibit employees from contribution to their campaigns. I will do the same,” Munoz said.