GOP blasts Blagojevich fund reporting

From The Chicago Tribune:

GOP blasts Blagojevich fund reporting

By John McCormick
Tribune staff reporter
Published August 5, 2002, 1:57 PM CDT

The newly elected chairman of the Illinois Republican Party launched a broadside against Democratic gubernatorial candidate Rod Blagojevich today, accusing him of failing to disclose information about dozens of contributors.

Gary MacDougal said his party has filed a complaint against Blagojevich with the State Board of Elections for failing to disclose the addresses, employers and occupations of contributors.

“Either Rod Blagojevich is trying to hide who is supporting his campaign or he runs a careless and sloppy organization,” MacDougal told a news conference in downtown Chicago.

“Whatever the case, he has once again proven that he is not fit to be governor.”

MacDougal said Blagojevich failed in campaign reports filed last week to provide employer and occupation information for 266 donors who had given $500 or more.

In addition, MacDougal said, address information was missing for 117 contributors.

The Republican charge comes as campaign finance filings show Blagojevich far ahead of Republican candidate Jim Ryan in the fund-raising race.

State records indicate that Blagojevich raised $7.6 million during the first six months of the year, compared to $4.9 million for Ryan.

State law requires candidates to make a good-faith effort to collect information on their contributors. The Blagojevich campaign said that’s what it has done.

“We have a tremendous number of contributors,” said Doug Scofield, a Blagojevich spokesman. “It was difficult to do in the time allowed.”

Scofield said Blagojevich plans to amend reports as the missing information becomes available.