The two Democrats who hold the gavels in the two houses of Illinois’ state legislature continue to rake in big campaign cash, according to the latest campaign finance reports.
And Illinois’ trial lawyers, who benefit from Illinois’ famously plaintiff-friendly laws and courts, continue to serve as some of the biggest and most generous benefactors of both Illinois House Speaker Emanuel “Chris” Welch and State Senate President Don Harmon, and, by extension, the Illinois Democratic Party.
According to reports filed Oct. 17 with the Illinois State Board of Elections, Welch and Harmon have each amassed campaign war chests that reportedly held more than $31.9 million, combined, as of Sept. 30.
Those funds were fueled by a windfall of donations, worth more than $28 million, combined, to the campaign funds set up by Welch and Harmon from July-September.
The campaign cash came from a wide range of business and political interests from throughout the state, and outside Illinois, including labor unions, health care companies, manufacturers, public relations firms, trade associations and individuals and firms in finance.
The massive campaign donations come as a result of the outsized influence Welch and Harmon can wield in Springfield under legislative rules and state law as the leaders of the Democrat-dominated houses of the Illinois General Assembly.
As the Speaker of the House and Illinois Senate President, respectively, Welch and Harmon can determine when and if legislation gets called for a vote, and also are given special abilities to fund the campaigns of their parties’ state lawmakers and candidates.
These unique abilities give them significant power throughout the state, and have contributed to scandals involving their predecessors. Former House Speaker and Illinois Democratic Party Chairman Michael Madigan, who held the speaker’s gavel for nearly 40 years, is now indicted on federal charges that he used the Speaker’s office to solicit bribes from ComEd and others to benefit loyalists and political allies and friends.
Welch was elected Speaker after a small, but sufficient number of Madigan’s fellow Democrats refused to join with the majority of their party and allow Madigan to return to the Speaker’s chair in 2021 even as federal indictments piled up against Madigan’s political associates.
The money flowing to Welch and Harmon continues to come from many of the same sources as benefitted Madigan when he was Speaker.
Some of the largest individual contributions to Welch’s and Harmon’s funds came from Illinois’ other top Democrat, Gov. JB Pritzker. His campaign fund, JB for Governor, transferred a combined $7 million to two campaign funds run by Welch and Harmon, known as Democrats for the Illinois House and ISDF, respectively. Nearly all of the funds held by the JB for Governor campaign committee come entirely from personal donations made by the billionaire governor.
Along with labor unions, Illinois’ trial lawyers also continued to plow big bucks into the Democratic leaders’ campaign funds.
Trial lawyers have consistently ranked as some of the most loyal and generous campaign contributors to Democratic leaders and Democratic campaign funds in Illinois.
According to the campaign finance reports, that did not change in the summer of 2022. The reports indicate trial lawyers gave nearly $1.85 million to Welch’s and Harmon’s four campaign funds from July-September 2022.
Among the most generous donors were some of the state’s most prominent class action and personal injury law firms.
These include the follow firms:
- Clifford Law Offices, which gave $96,000;
- Cooney & Conway, $96,000;
- Keefe Keefe & Unsell, $96,000;
- Salvi Schostok & Pritchard, $96,000;
- Power Rogers, $96,000;
- Simmons, Hanly & Conroy, $96,000;
- Gori Law Firm, $96,000;
- Hurley, McKenna & Mertz, $72,000;
- Levin & Perconti, $72,000;
- Romanucci & Blandin, $72,000
- Taxman Pollock, $72,000;
- Tomasik Kotin, $72,000;
- Cates Law Firm, $48,000;
- Edelson P.C., $48,000; and
- Smith Lacien, $48,000.
In those contests, the fund known as All for Justice, which is led by trial lawyer Luke Casson, has paid for campaign advertisements that have attacked the judicial integrity of Republican Supreme Court candidates, former Lake County Sheriff Mark Curran and incumbent state Supreme Court Justice Michael J. Burke.
Those races are being closely watched, as Republican wins in both of those contests would shift the balance of power on the Illinois Supreme Court to the GOP for the first time in modern history.
Donations to the Democratic legislative leaders are also used largely to boost efforts to elect Democrats statewide.
Welch, for instance, transferred about $10 million from his funds to the Illinois Democratic Party and Democratic candidates.
Harmon has transferred $500,000 from his personal campaign committee, Friends of Don Harmon, to the All for Justice committee.