February 6, 2003

Money & Elections 2002:

2002 Election Costs up 46.2% from 1998; Illinois Candidates report $184.8 million in election spending

Candidates for statewide and legislative office spent a record $184.8 million in the 2001-2002 election cycle, up 42.6% from the last gubernatorial election cycle. Included in that total were the most expensive race for Governor in Illinois history, the most expensive attorney general race, and the most expensive race for a seat in the General Assembly. In a league by himself, Gov. Rod Blagojevich spent over $23 million for the primary and general election periods, in what became Illinois' most expensive gubernatorial election ever.

"These are staggering numbers," said Cindi Canary, director of the Illinois Campaign for Political Reform, "Once again, we see an ever widening gap between candidates who can spend the money to buy access to the political process and those without much money or voice. With every election, the need for contribution limits in Illinois becomes increasingly critical."

Constitutional Officer Candidates: The biggest spikes in election expenditures were seen in the gubernatorial and attorney general races, both of which set new records. Candidates in the general and the primary spent a total of $57.8 million on the 2002 gubernatorial contest. Governor Rod Blagojevich easily broke all previous records, spending $23.4 million ($14.6 million in the general election) to challenger Jim Ryan's $15.8 million ($6.8 million in the general election). The Attorney General contest saw a total of $19.6 million spent by all the candidates. Attorney General Lisa Madigan spent $10.8 million ($6.4 million in the general election), while Joe Birkett spent $4.2 million ($2.7 million in the general election).

State Legislative Candidates: "The legislative leaders continue to provide a majority of the funding in the most expensive legislative races," said Kent Redfield, Director of the Sunshine Project at the University of Illinois at Springfield. "Part of the reason the legislative leaders are so powerful in Springfield is their ability to direct vast resources to targeted legislative races."

The overall cost of state legislative races was $42.5 million by all House and Senate candidates in the general and primary elections. Candidates for the Illinois Senate spent $22.6 million in 2002, up 77.8% in 2000, (due to redistricting, all 59 Senate seats were on the ballot in 2002; only a third of the Senate was on the ballot in 2000). The most expensive legislative contests were centered in the Senate. Races in the 29th (Parker-Garrett), 54th (Jones-O'Daniel) and 37th (Risinger-Mangieri) Districts all topped $1.5 million. The single most expensive race was in the 29th District where then-Rep. Susan Garrett and her opponent Sen. Kathleen Parker spent $1.98 million on the general election and $2.5 million overall. The most expensive House race was in the 103rd District (Berns-Jakobsson), where the two candidates combined to spend $942,000.

Judicial Candidates:Judicial races also saw a dramatic surge in fundraising. Supreme Court Justice Rita Garman spent $564,000 in the general election to hold her Fourth District seat on the Supreme Court, defeating Appellate Court Justice Sue Myerscough, who reported $821,000 spent. The combined $1.4 million sets a new record in a general election for a Supreme Court seat. Justice Garman spent $380,000 winning her primary contest against Justice Robert Steigmann. All three candidates reported a combined total $1.9 million on the primary and general elections. Also in the Fourth District, the race for Appellate Court between Justice John Turner and attorney Bill Trapp set a record with combined expenditures of $394,000.

The number and size of large contributions also exploded in the 2002 elections. In 2000, there were 1,709 contributions of $5,000 or more. In 2002, there were 5,221 contributions of that size. Over twenty individuals personally gave in excess of $100,000 during calendar year 2002, including five who gave more than half a million. Combined, the top 20 individual donors gave near $6.2 million during calendar year 2002; companies associated with these individuals gave another $500,000.

NOTE ON DISCLOSURE: All figures were obtained from candidate reports submitted to the Illinois State Board of Elections. State candidates are required to file complete contribution and expenditure reports covering the first half of the year by July 31 and the second half of the year by January 31.

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