Tuesday will mark the end of years of campaigning for candidates running for both state and federal offices. But it also will mark the beginning of a new era in campaigning in the United States — the McCain-Feingold era.
It’s unclear what the impact will be of the campaign finance reform bill introduced by Sens. John McCain, R-Ariz., and Russ Feingold, D-Wis., which limits contributions to political parties while allowing individuals to donate more to candidates. Proponents say it will level the political playing field. Opponents say it will allow interest groups to take a bigger role in the Beltway.
Whatever impact the legislation has on the federal level, Illinois will be blissfully ignorant of it. The Land of Lincoln has some of the loosest political contribution restrictions in the country. According to the Illinois State Board of Elections Web site, “No limits exist under the Illinois Campaign Financing Act.”
That discrepancy is obvious with only a cursory look at contributions made by Northwestern’s richest sect — the trustees. Individual trustee contributions to Illinois gubernatorial candidates were as large as $50,000 — 25 times the amount donors are allowed to give a candidate for federal office. In fact, a review of information provided by the Illinois State Board of Elections and federal filings from the Center for Responsive Politics revealed that for this election cycle — from Jan. 1, 2001, to June 30, 2002 — total trustee contributions in Illinois were $558,553, which outweighed contributions to federal races at $501,140.
And although trustees are giving heaps of money to local races, being an NU graduate has not helped candidates get their hands on any of it. Democrat gubernatorial candidate Rod Blagojevich, Weinberg ’79, has received $1,250 from trustees. That’s roughly 1 percent of the $122,500 donated to Republican candidate Jim Ryan.
The bulk of trustee contributions to Ryan came from three sources: a $45,500 donation from the Patrick Ryan family, a $41,000 donation from William Smithburg and a $25,000 donation from John Canning. These three, incidentally, are the biggest trustee donors to Republicans.
The bent toward Republicans is shared by a large majority of trustees. Of the more than $1 million in trustee contributions, $660,994 went to Republicans, more than twice the $297,550 given to Democrats. Trustees also gave $101,179 to political action committees.
Somewhat surprisingly, though, the largest individual donor gave most of his money to Democrats. Neil Bluhm, co-founder of JMB Realty Co. in Chicago, gave $238,350 in this election cycle, $187,300 to the Democratic Party and candidates. His biggest gifts were two $50,000 donations to the Democratic National Committee.
Going down the list, the next eight largest donors all gave primarily to Republicans, with the biggest GOP supporters being the Ryan family. Both Patrick Ryan Sr. and Jr. are NU trustees, and because of the vagaries of disclosure, it is difficult to tell the difference between their contributions. Together they gave $228,400, almost all to Republicans running for state office.
Although the Ryans’ $45,500 gift to Att. Gen. Jim Ryan — no relation — was the largest trustee contribution to his campaign, it was not the largest donation to an Illinois gubernatorial candidate. This would be the $55,000 that Canning gave Lt. Gov. Corinne Wood before she lost to Ryan in the Republican primary in February.
These large contributions to candidates are not allowed on the federal level. Individuals are restricted to giving candidates $2,000 — half for primaries and the other half for the general election.
Some people have gotten around that hurdle by giving “soft money,” large amounts of unrestricted funds to national political parties. The McCain-Feingold bill, which President Bush signed this year, took aim at soft money and put limits on the amount that corporations, unions and individuals are allowed to give to national parties.
Although the passing of the bill was hailed by many as a major step in reforming the federal election system, many critics contend that it will just make the problem worse. Kenneth Janda, a professor emeritus in NU’s political science department, said big money will reach politicians one way or another.
Janda said he believes the McCain-Feingold bill will just serve to take that money away from the parties, which often give more money to challengers than incumbents and therefore invigorate races. Now that money will go through special interest groups, which will expect candidates to share their opinion in exchange for money.
“Reformers often mess things up more than they help,” Janda said. “Reformers come in and make changes, then they say, ‘Oh my God, I didn’t think that was going to happen.'”
NU trustee Alan Leventhal, CEO of Beacon Capital Partners, Inc., a Boston-based real estate firm, donated $28,000 to federal campaigns, almost all of it to Democrats. He made a $15,000 donation to the Democratic National Committee and said he has made soft money contributions in past elections. He believes more disclosure, not more restrictions, could better rein in any influence money has on politics.
“(The McCain-Feingold bill) sounded good, but I don’t think it changes the way special interests finance elections,” said Leventhal, Weinberg ’74. “The most important thing is to fully disclose where the money is coming from. That’s where you really protect the system.”
One man with knowledge from both sides of the fund-raising issue is Ald. Steven Bernstein (4th). He raised $20,672.50 for his 2001 race against Peggy Tarr and Mimi Peterson, and he has contributed $250 each to Larry Suffredin’s campaign for Cook County Board and Jack Cutrone’s campaign for judge.
But Bernstein is the only Evanston City Council member who contributed money to a campaign this year.
“It surprises me, quite honestly,” Bernstein said. “I would have thought some (aldermen) would have made some donations.”
But even if they do not contribute money, Bernstein and other City Council members stressed that aldermen often donate their time to campaign for other candidates.
Ald. Stephen Engelman (7th), who raised $7,570 in his 2001 bid for re-election, usually contributes to state Rep. Jeff Schoenberg, D-Wilmette, but Schoenberg is running unopposed this year for state Senate. As both a candidate and a voter, Engelman said he sees campaign contributions as a “necessary evil.”
“It’s necessary because it costs money to run a campaign,” he said. “It’s evil because some (candidates) seem to spend most of their time trying to raise money, and sometimes feel beholden to people who make contributions.”
