McHenry state's attorney incumbent has big edge in funds

While the contest that counts still is 18 days away, McHenry County State's Attorney Louis Bianchi's re-election campaign already can consider itself a success in one regard: fundraising.

Filings with the Illinois State Board of Elections show Bianchi has amassed a huge funding advantage over his opponent in next month's Republican primary, leading challenger Dan Regna by a more than 36-to-1 ratio in cash on hand.

Bianchi, seeking his second term as the county's top lawyer, has raised $81,522 since July 1, according to campaign disclosure forms filed this week, and had $78,556 available in his coffers as of Dec. 31.

Regna, a former criminal prosecutor who now works in private practice, has raised $27,216 over the same time period, but as of Thursday had just $2,154 on hand.

Through the end of the year, filings show, Bianchi spent $44,818 on his re-election effort, nearly twice as much as the $23,561 Regna spent.

"It reflects the overwhelming support I have from the voters who I expect will re-elect me Feb. 5," Bianchi said. "It shows the trust and confidence they have in me."

Despite the huge funding gap, Regna said he believes his message is reaching voters, thanks in part to endorsements from several police organizations and McHenry County Sheriff Keith Nygren.

The sheriff's endorsement in particular, Regna said, is bringing more financial contributions to his campaign since it was announced last week.

"I think the money deficit will evaporate very quickly," Regna said.

Several of Regna's contributions come from former assistant McHenry County state's attorneys, including Bianchi's 2004 primary opponent, Glenn Gable, and Anne Brophy, a former Bianchi assistant who came forward in the fall with claims she was demoted in the office after returning from a military commitment overseas.

But nearly half of Regna's money comes via loans from Woodford Development, a Woodstock-based real estate investment firm. The firm's owner, Regna said, is a close personal friend who he intends to repay fully for the $13,000 in loans.

Bianchi's funding comes from a wide variety of sources, including business owners, county law firms, current employees and even some former crime victims.

Among his largest donations was a $2,500 contribution from Exacto Inc., a Richmond-based agricultural products company founded by a man, Billy J. Cox, who Bianchi's office successfully prosecuted for trying to kill his wife. The company now is run by Cox's son, Kenneth, who supported his mother, and county prosecutors, through the case against his father.

Bianchi received $500 from Charles Kostomiris, a Woodstock man whose dog was shot and killed by a neighbor in 2005. Bianchi's office successfully prosecuted the neighbor on a felony charge of aggravated cruelty to an animal.

Another notable donation to Bianchi -- not so much for its size but for its source -- is a $250 contribution from Chicago attorney Lawrence Wolf Levin.

Levin is representing former Lake in the Hills resident Lyndsey Tucker on federal bank robbery charges stemming from February holdups of banks in Algonquin and Lake in the Hills.

But, more relevant to Bianchi's office, Tucker also has been under investigation since July after her newborn baby was found dead stuffed in a plastic bag and placed under a bathroom sink in a Hebron-area apartment. A McHenry County coroner's jury declared the death a homicide in November, but the state's attorney's office has not decided how, or whether, it will prosecute her.

Asked about the contribution Thursday, Bianchi said he believes he knows Levin from his time as a Cook County prosecutor early in his legal career.