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Friedman has big quarter, still playing catchup to Morrison in 29th

Although Republican Arie Friedman raised half again as much as Julie Morrison in the second quarter of 2012, the Highland Park pediatrician is still playing catch up to the West Deerfield Township supervisor in fundraising for the 29th Senate seat.

The race is on to replace retiring state Sen. Susan Garrett, the Democrat who has held the seat for 10 years.

Large institutional donations and a last-minute fundraising push helped Friedman, a Republican, raise more than $54,000 — $40,000 of that in individual contributions — from April to June.

During the period, Friedman spent about $19,000, the report shows.

Morrison, the Democrat, raised $32,000 — $16,650 in individual contributions — and spent $22,000.

Morrison, however, has amassed a larger campaign war chest, some of which is left over from her successful primary campaign against Milton Sumption. At the end of the reporting period, Morrison had $62,000 on hand, and Friedman had $43,000.

In the second eriod, Friedman received $5,000 from Marc Levine of Chicago Asset Funding LLC., $10,000 from Otto Engineering in Carpentersville and $5,000 from Richard Uihlein, CEO of Lake Forest-based Uline.

He also received transfer-in contributions, including $3,000 from the Illinois State Medical Society PAC and $2,000 from the Caterpillar Employees PAC.

In the last three days of the quarter Friedman raised more than half the money he brought in over the three-month period, collecting nearly $24,000 between June 27 and June 30.

“We’re just really happy with it, obviously,” Friedman said, adding that many of the larger organizations that contributed in June had pledged not to contribute during the legislative session, which is why they waited until later in the quarter to donate.

“It’s obviously going to be a very close race,” Friedman said. “This has always been an area dominated by independents as opposed to partisan voters. We’re very different candidates and we present a different view of Illinois’ future.”

Friedman said he anticipates getting more large, institutional donors going forward.

Morrison’s second quarter was a story of small donors, with more than 75 percent of her contributions being $500 or less.

“There was a really nice representation of the district in those contributions,” Morrison said of her many different donors. “My campaign has not been about special interests. It’s been about communities in the district.”

Besides her $16,650 in individual contributions she got $12,250 in transfers. Those included $3,000 from Citizens for Susan Garrett — the retiring senator endorsed Morrison for her seat last year.

Other groups that transferred money to Morrison’s campaign included UFCW Local 881 PAC, Planned Parenthood Illinois Action PAC, Illinois Trial Lawyers Association PAC and AFSCME Illinois Council No. 31 PAC.

Morrison’s largest donations were $5,000 from Christine Shaw who is listed on the report as a Lake Forest homemaker, and $2,000 from state Sen. Heather Steans of Chicago.

Although Friedman out-raised her this quarter, Morrison said she’s been spending a lot of time knocking on doors and she looks forward to the months ahead.

“There’s a lot of campaign left,” she said.

The district has been redrawn to include more Northwest suburbs — Arlington Heights and Buffalo Grove — also has much of the North Shore, including Deerfield, Highland Park, Lake Forest and Lake Bluff.

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