In House 50 race, Republican has the money

In the campaign to become the next state House 50th District representative, Republican Keith Wheeler of Oswego is benefiting from the largesse of three donors from the North Shore.

Gubernatorial candidate Bruce Rauner of Winnetka donated $5,300 to Wheeler's committee, as did his wife, Diana Rauner. They have made similar contributions to other Republicans running for the state legislature.

And Richard Uihlein of Lake Forest, of chief executive officer of Uline Industries, also gave $5,300 Sept. 30. Uihlein had also given $5,300 to Wheeler during the primary, and also to one of his opponents, Julie Cosimo. Uihlein is a major supporter of conservative Republican candidates. $5,300 is the maximum an individual can give to a candidate during an election cycle.

Democrats, it seems, are not putting much behind Valerie Burd of Yorkville, Wheeler's opponent. She did receive $750 in June from Democratic Majority of Springfield. She has also reported a Sept. 23 contribution of $1,000 from SUAAction of Springfield, the political action committee for the State Universities Annuitants Association. As of June 30 she had no debts or other obligations, and she started the third quarter with $1,253.62 on hand.

"The people with a lot of money look at this as a throwaway district to the Republicans," Burd said. Those people and organizations are concentrating their spending on districts they believe they can win, she said. "I understand that."

Burd said even if she loses, if she does reasonably well, maybe the next Democratic candidate will get more financial support.

Since July 1, Wheeler has received at least $30,400 in donations of $1,000 or more. Donors were political action committees for the National Federation of Independent Businesses, Caterpillar employees and the Illinois State Medical Society; the law firm of Ottosen, Britz, Kelly, Cooper and Dinolfo, a Naperville firm specializing in municipal law; apparel company Boombah Inc. of Yorkville; Daniel Dolan, a real estate agent from Aurora; H. Linden and Sons Water and Sewer of Oswego; the Rauners; and Uihlein.

He had no debts or other obligations as of June 30.

Lesser contributions will be reported on the third-quarter statements, which are due Oct. 15.