Illinois might lift money caps if super PACs enter fray

SPRINGFIELD — Just months after Illinois corralled historically outlandish campaign spending by imposing its first limits on political contributions, lawmakers are considering ditching the caps in cases where newly permitted super PACs jump in with big money.

Legislation on its way to the House would nix spending limits if “independent” groups pump more than $100,000 into a legislative campaign or $250,000 into a statewide race.

House Majority Leader Barbara Flynn Currie isn’t enthused about ditching restrictions that just took effect after scandals that sent the last two Illinois governors to federal prison. But the Chicago Democrat says without it, political opponents targeted by a super PAC couldn’t compete.

“If you’re a candidate in a race where somebody else has deep pockets without limit, that is not fair to say, you are going to run with one hand tied behind your back,” Currie said.

The Illinois Campaign for Political Reform wants stronger language in the proposal to ensure that outside groups are truly independent and not illegally coordinating with a candidate — allowing office-seekers to “engineer the removal of their own limits.”

The state’s first contribution limits took effect this year, restricting individual contributions to $10,000; $20,000 for corporations, labor groups or political parties; and $50,000 from political action committees or a candidate’s committee.

But the U.S. Supreme Court’s 2010 Citizens United ruling approved unlimited fundraising by groups independent of specific candidates or causes, giving rise to super PACs. Super PACs may raise and spend unlimited amounts of money in favor of a candidate or cause as long as they don’t directly coordinate their activities.

A federal court ruled in March that the abortion-rights group Personal PAC was one of those groups and was not restricted in Illinois.

Currie said her proposal to ensure fair competition is similar to a provision in the current law. Contribution limits are eliminated now in cases where a wealthy candidate or his or her family raises $100,000 or more for a legislative race or $250,000 for a statewide hopeful.

David Morrison, deputy director of the Illinois Campaign for Political Reform, said the exemption for wealthy candidates affects relatively few campaigns. Meanwhile, in the case of super PACs, “Anybody, any committee in the country can parachute in at any time,” he said.

The legislation needs more specific definitions of what an “independent” committee is, Morrison said. It should specify that committees cannot be dedicated to a single candidate, be staffed by the candidate’s friends or former employees or share office space with the candidate’s political committee, he said.

“We want to make sure that the candidates cannot engineer the removal of their own limits through the formation of a new committee,” Morrison said.