Both 14th District candidates have deep pockets

In the race for the 14th Congressional District seat, Republican challenger Jim Oberweis is known as the investor and dairy magnate.

Democrat Bill Foster is known as the scientist and upstart incumbent.

But despite their differences, both men come from the high end of the tax bracket. That becomes clear when examining the sources of their campaign war chests.

Both campaign funds are approaching the $5 million mark, in no small part because of the candidates' own contributions to them.

Foster, of Geneva, has injected nearly $2 million from his own wallet into the race, according to campaign disclosure reports.

Meanwhile, Oberweis, of Sugar Grove, has opened his own personal piggy bank to contribute more than $3.8 million to his campaign. That makes him far and away the campaign's largest contributor as of Sept. 30.

Beyond his own bank account, Oberweis' largest contributions come from his asset management company, securities and investment firms, builders and Republican interest groups.

Foster has many more individual contributors, most notably educators and fellow scientists across the country. Indeed, while nearly all of Oberweis' campaign money can be tracked to Illinois, about half of Foster's comes from out of state.

"A majority of Congressman Foster's contributions came from individuals who support Bill's bipartisan approach," Foster spokeswoman Shannon O'Brien said.

Foster also received significant donations from the securities, real estate, insurance and banking industries. That's not surprising given his seat on the House Financial Services Committee, in the spotlight recently for its role in the economic bailout debate.

Perhaps the most recognizable contributors in that arena are Fannie Mae and Goldman Sachs, both of which had a high interest in the federal bailout.

Oberweis spokesman David From said Foster's acceptance of that money is a sign that Foster is part of the pay-to-play attitude in Congress.

Oberweis has said he would swear off money from political action committees if Foster agreed to do the same. That never happened, and Oberweis continues to accept PAC donations.