ICPR Files Complaint with State Board of Elections
On Monday, March 29, for the first time in its history, the Illinois
Campaign for Political Reform (ICPR) filed a complaint with the
Illinois State Board of Elections (SBE) against a political committee
for violating Illinois’ Election Code. The complaint cites
the complete failure to file campaign finance reports for calendar
year 2003 and for the 2004 pre-election period by two political
committees chaired by State Representative Calvin Giles, Citizens
for Calvin L. Giles and the 37th Ward Regular Democratic Organization.
The Illinois State Board of Elections is charged with enforcing
state election laws but lacks the authority to do so thoroughly
and aggressively. They have assessed almost $70,000 in fines against
Rep. Giles’ committees for failure to file these and previous
campaign reports, but have so far been unable to compel him to produce
the required reports, nor to pay the fines
Disclosure is Illinois sole campaign finance law. Unlike the federal
government and most other states, Illinois does not limit the amount
of money campaigns can receive, who can contribute, or when candidates
can take contributions. Nor do we restrict campaign contributions
from state contractors or regulated industries. Instead, Illinois
relies upon public disclosure to ensure that campaign finance practices
are appropriate and above board. As such, ICPR believes that it
is critical to monitor and enforce campaign disclosure requirements
vigilantly.
The State Board of Elections should have the authority on its own
initiative to conduct randomized audits of campaign reports, and
to initiate meaningful enforcement actions against campaigns found
to be in noncompliance. ICPR encourages the Illinois General Assembly
to provide the SBE with the resources and the authority to uphold
Illinois campaign disclosure law.
Click here to read the letter sent to
Rep. Giles urging him to file his committees’ reports.
Click
here to read the Chicago Tribune story on the ICPR complaints against
the committees. |
