The Buck Stops Here!
September 29, 2019
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It’s no easy task keeping up with all the money that’s infiltrating Illinois politics these days. That’s why we’ve created a one-stop shop that helps you take a streamlined spin behind the scenes in the places that matter. Campaign funds’ available cash, contribution sources, and expenditures are all brought under one umbrella, with the filters you set.
Let’s get started.
First, navigate to centerforilpolitics.org/campaigncash:
• Here you can search for contribution data by candidate/committee.
• Scroll down, and you’ll find links to pages for specific committees to elect public officials, political party committees, and PACs.
Let’s take a look at contributions for a legislator in leadership, Illinois Senate President John Cullerton.
• When you type in a legislator’s or candidate’s name, you may be given several options for committees supporting that individual.
• John Cullerton has several; let’s select “Citizens for John J Cullerton for State Senate.”
Voila! Now you can view all of the contributions and expenditures attached to this committee.
This page gives you lots of good info, such as:
• Total contributions, historically
• Total expenditures, historically
• Interactive trend lines for both
• A complete listing of all contributions
• A complete listing of all expenditures
As you can see, all contributions and expenditures are itemized! You can organize these in a few different ways: by donor, description, date, and amount
If you’re looking for a specific detail, such as the name of a donor or a specific amount, you can browse the directory by typing in the search bar above the listing.
• For instance, if you search President Cullerton’s committee contributions for amounts from the Chicago Teachers Union, just type in Chicago Teachers Union.
• And you’ll see several contributions from the CTU dating back to March of 1996!
Here’s how to look at campaign cash by donor instead of by candidate: Simply navigate back to centerforilpolitics.org/campaigncash. Under the search bar, you’ll see options to browse by donors or by expenditures.
Let’s say you select to search by donor:
Let’s say you select to search by donor:
Here you can organize the listing by several factors. For instance, you can group the most recent aldermanic race in the 43rd Ward by donor.
And if you click this graph icon on our webpage...
...you’ll see this nifty chart comparing campaign cash by donor!
Easy as pie, right? We hope you’ll come back for more - as the issues will get more complicated, stakes will only get higher. But remember - it all starts - and ends - where the buck stops.
PS: Questions? Contact us at kerry@centerforilpolitics.org
**Meghan Coleman contributed
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