Bond outraises challenger in 31st Senate, but Schmidt has more left
Democratic state Sen. Michael Bond has dramatically outraised - and outspent - the Republican who's after his job, newly filed state reports show.
But Republican challenger Suzi Schmidt ended 2009 with nearly twice as much money in her campaign war chest, the records indicate.
Bond, a first-term senator from Grayslake, collected nearly $84,766 in donations during the last half of 2009 but ended the year with less than $22,000 in the bank, his newest campaign disclosure report shows.
Schmidt, a Lake Villa resident and the longtime chairwoman of the Lake County Board, collected about $25,130 but didn't spend nearly as much as Bond. She ended the year with nearly $41,802 saved for her campaign.
Her single largest donation was a $5,000 transfer from state Senate Republican leader Christine Radogno.
Schmidt is grateful for the support from her party's leader in the Senate, who's also a former classmate at Lyons Township High School in LaGrange.
"I think she sees how serious I am and that I don't see this as a hobby," Schmidt said of the Lemont Republican.
Bond's single-largest donation of the period was a $11,500 transfer from the Senate Democratic Victory Fund.
"I'm sure the Republican caucus is looking at this seat," said Bond, who also serves as the vice chair of the Lake County Democratic Party, "And I know the Democrats don't want to give it up."
Bond and Schmidt each are running unopposed in the Feb. 2 primary election for the 31st state Senate seat.
Voters in November will decide which of them will represent the district, which covers northern Lake County, for the next four years.
The race is expected to be a hot contest. Bond won in 2006 with the support of the late state Sen. Adeline Geo-Karis, the veteran Republican who'd held the post for decades but lost to Republican Suzanne Simpson in the GOP primary that year. Geo-Karis died in 2008.
Legislative candidates who raise or spend at least $3,000 must file semiannual financial disclosure reports with the state. The newest reports filed this week by Bond and Schmidt cover donations and expenditures made between July 1 and Dec. 31.
They are viewable online at elections.state.il.us/campaigndisclosure.
Many of Bond's donations came from political-action committees representing companies and unions. They include: $1,500 from an Abbott Laboratories employees committee; $1,500 from Comcast; $500 from Harrah's; $1,500 from Motorola; and $1,000 from the Union Pacific Railroad.
Bond also reported some noncorporate donations, including $150 from Loretta Durbin, the wife of U.S. Sen. Richard Durbin.
Bond said he's had a campaign team working on a re-election bid since he won four years ago.
"We're not going to be idle and inactive and only be active every four years," he said. "We run around the clock, 365 days a year, and it's expensive to do that."
Bond's political aspirations temporarily drifted to Congress last year. In April, he announced a bid for the 10th House seat now held by U.S. Rep. Mark Kirk, but he withdrew after four months.
Bond's Senate campaign coffers would have been larger, he said, were it not for the brief Congressional campaign.
Schmidt's disclosure report details more donations from individuals than Bond's document. Donors included: $200 from former county board chairman James LaBelle; $250 from county board member David Stolman; $500 from former Mettawa mayor Barry MacLean; and $500 from attorney David Del Re, the son of former Lake County sheriff Gary Del Re.
Schmidt also received donations from several Republican political campaigns, including those supporting local GOP leader and Lake Villa Township Supervisor Dan Venturi, Sheriff Mark Curran and state Rep. JoAnn Osmond.
Schmidt, who hasn't faced an Election Day opponent since 1996, said she knows she'll have to raise cash for the Senate race.
When Bond faced Simpson in 2006, both candidates had budgets in the six-figure range.
"I'm prepared to raise money," Schmidt said. "I will do my best, and that's all anybody can ask for."