Two state’s attorney candidates have $100,000 in campaign funds
A pair of Republican candidates for Lake County state’s attorney have more than $100,000 in their campaign war chests a little less than two months before the March 20 primary elections.
Other candidates in the race have amassed more modest campaign funds, and one candidate said in a message she does not intend to do any fundraising.
Three Republicans and three Democrats have filed to be selected by their parties for the right to succeed state’s attorney Michael Waller, who is retiring in December after 22 years in office.
Democratic voters will choose between Chris Kennedy, Reginald Mathews and Karen Boyd Williams. Republicans will decide between Louise Hayes, Mike Nerheim and Bryan Winter. The winners will meet in the November general election.
State law requires candidates for local, county or state office to file reports with the elections board detailing campaign donations and spending once they have raised or spent $3,000.
Filed quarterly, and the most recent reports cover activity between Oct. 1 and Dec. 31, 2011.
Hayes of Lake Bluff, an assistant state’s attorney assigned to the felony review division, reported her campaign had raised $133,124 against $31,580 in expenses for a balance of $101,544.
She loaned her campaign $25,000, according to the report. The bulk of the funds is individual contributions of $175 to $2,000. Hayes reports she spent $10,490 on services from a Des Plaines political consulting firm and $7,500 on a similar firm in Chicago.
Nerheim, a former assistant state’s attorney now in private practice, reported he had $19,160 in expenses taken from $120,340 in his campaign fund, leaving him with a $101,179 balance.
Nerheim loaned his campaign $40,000, the report shows, and he received a $40,000 donation from his father. His campaign paid $4,750 to an Atlanta firm for its campaign website design, the report shows.
Kennedy, from Libertyville, is third in the fundraising race with $60,124 raised and $27,077 spent for a balance of $33,047.
Also a former assistant state’s attorney now in private practice, Kennedy has raised money through individual contributions of $100 to $5,000. His report says his largest expenses are for personnel, with $5,250 paid to the campaign finance director and $4,000 to the campaign manager.
Winter of Lake Barrington, an attorney in private practice with experience as a municipal prosecutor, starts the year with $25,287 on hand after raising $45,647 and paying $20,360 in expenses.
Winter’s funding came from individual contributions of $100 to $2,500, the report shows. His campaign’s largest expense was $7,500 paid to a Chicago firm for political consulting services.
Mathews, an assistant state’s attorney in the felony division, reported a balance of $7,605 on Jan. 1 after raising $9,286 and spending $1,681.
Donations ranged from $100 to $1,000, according to the report, and the campaign’s expenses were for printing and advertising.
Williams, a Mundelein attorney, has not registered a campaign committee with the state board or filed any financial reports.
In a voice-mail message in response to a question about campaign funding, she said she “really did not have any fundraising plans.”