From The Chicago Sun-Times:

Pate pays up with campaign funds

June 4, 2002

BY TIM NOVAK AND DAVE MCKINNEY STAFF REPORTERS

Illinois Senate President James "Pate'' Philip opened his campaign fund and wrote a check for $15,161 to Navy Pier for a high school reunion party thrown on his behalf nearly three years ago.

Philip wrote the check last Thursday, two days after the Chicago Sun-Times disclosed Navy Pier never billed Philip for the party that was organized on just five days notice.

The pier also got a check for $14,092 from James Bolin, a member of the board that runs Navy Pier, to pay for five parties he hosted during the past four years, including a barbecue on the roof during the lakefront fireworks show last July 3, said Navy Pier spokeswoman Marilyn Gardner.

Philip (R-Wood Dale) decided to pay the bill with his campaign fund, rather than his personal checkbook. While state law now prohibits politicians from spending campaign funds on personal uses, such as cars or tuition, Philip's spokeswoman, Patty Schuh, argued the reunion bill isn't a personal expense.

"Some of these [classmates] still live in the area and they're Sen. Philip's constituents,'' Schuh said. "A number of them were out-of-towners, Downstaters or out-of-staters, and obviously he talks about politics wherever he goes.''

Philip's bill included $4,000 for rental of the room where the reunion was held Sept. 11, 1999. The bill also included $2,851 for food, $2,378 for gifts, $1,750 for a band, $1,297 for flowers, $900 for drinks, and a $675 tip.

The final bill is about $500 larger than the Sun-Times reported last week because Navy Pier officials charged Philip for rent, but the bar tab ended up being smaller than pier officials estimated, Gardner said.

Philip maintained last week that he never asked Navy Pier officials to throw a lavish cocktail party on behalf of the Class of 1949 from Elmhurst's York High School. He said he only wanted a tour for himself and his 84 classmates, including his younger brother, Arthur, the chairman of the Illinois State Toll Highway Authority.

Five days before Philip and his classmates were to board a touring boat at Navy Pier, Philip called Scott Fawell, chief executive officer of the Metropolitan Pier and Exposition Authority, the agency that runs Navy Pier.

Fawell ordered the staff to put together the lavish cocktail party that included gourmet hors d'oeuvres, a big band, flowers and gift bags with cards saying, "Compliments of Senator Pate Philip.''

Fawell never sent Philip a bill, and Philip never asked for a bill--until last Tuesday, when the Sun-Times disclosed the free party held at government expense.

Authority board members had been unaware that Fawell hosted a free party for Philip, saying the only free events should be those that promote the Navy Pier facility.

Both Philip and Bolin, the authority board member who also submitted a check, maintained that their parties could meet that standard because they were promoting Navy Pier to their friends.