When state Rep. Larry Wennlund needed support to finance his re-election last year, one of the area’s newest industries helped him.
Wennlund, a Republican from New Lenox, spent $135,000 in his successful election bid. One-third of that money-nearly $45,000-came from the Joliet-based Empress River Casino and its owners, campaign records show.
Wennlund is among dozens of Illinois officials who are finding the riverboat gambling industry, despite its newcomer status in the state, to be a growing source of political money and influence in Illinois.
Although the fledgling industry’s campaign donations are no match for more established state contributors, such as the medical or insurance industries, the business is just 3 years old in Illinois and has only recently begun to target political campaigns.
A partial review of campaign finance records shows that at least $237,000 was donated in 1992 to Illinois politicians ranging from municipal officials to Gov. Jim Edgar by the boat owners, their firms and their corporations, as well as by those seeking licenses.
The contributions are fueled by cash from gamblers, who have wagered more than $286 million in the last 10 months on the state’s six existing riverboats. The boats and their owners have taken some of the profits and directed it to the coffers of many candidates, most of whom are Republicans, campaign records show.
For the Democrats, that isn’t much of a surprise.
Republican Gov. James Thompson’s administration brought riverboats to Illinois, and the licenses for the boats have generally gone to longtime GOP supporters and contributors. Nine licenses have been awarded; a 10th is available.
“We may be perceived as the group that is pro land-based casino, and that is against their interest,” said Steve Brown, a spokesman for Illinois House Speaker Michael Madigan, a Chicago Democrat.
One exception is Democratic State Sen. Denny Jacobs of East Moline, who wrote the state’s riverboat gambling act. Jacobs received more than $8,000 from the boats and their owners last year. According to Jacobs, the industry’s motivation is simply that of most campaign contributors: to reward a friend.
“They wouldn’t be in existence if I hadn’t introduced the legislation,” Jacobs said. “They are, in effect, saying thank you for doing that.”
For some politicians, the riverboat contributions represent a relatively small percentage of their campaign proceeds. For instance, Edgar-a proponent of riverboat gambling development in the state-received $1.9 million in contributions in 1992, only $23,200 of which came from the riverboat industry.
Likewise, two multimillion-dollar Republican funds controlled by Senate President James “Pate” Philip of Wood Dale and House Minority Leader Lee Daniels of Elmhurst got a total of $54,300 in riverboat money last year, records show.
But for local politicians like Wennlund and East St. Louis Mayor Gordon Bush, the contributions can be significant. The riverboat industry donated $40,000 to the campaign coffers of Bush, a major proponent of bringing riverboat gambling to his impoverished city.
These figures come from a Tribune examination of the financial disclosure reports of nearly 100 committees for state and local officials in the Chicago metropolitan region, focusing on areas that already have boats or are trying to get them. Exactly how much the casinos actually gave to the remaining 3,225 political committees within the state is not clear.
The Illinois Gaming Control Board requires all boat owners to disclose all political donations made in the five years before getting a license. But the gaming board declined to release those records. Neither state law nor the board’s rules require the boats to keep track of donations once they receive their licenses.
Wennlund said he could not recall receiving a $10,000 contribution from the Empress, just days after the November election.
Owners of the Empress, who were the largest riverboat contributors to the 100 committees examined, declined to discuss their campaign contributions.
Wennlund argues that just because some of his contributors own riverboats, they aren’t necessarily contributing on behalf of the gambling industry. Indeed, many of the boat owners have myriad financial interests.
“These people have been longtime residents and supporters,” Wennlund said. “Merely because they applied for a riverboat license doesn’t change anything.”
Peter Ferro Jr., one of the Empress owners, donated $1,200 to Wennlund in 1992, and a family-run road construction firm contributed an additional $21,000, records show.
“Peter Ferro and I have been friends for 20 years-he always contributed to my campaign,” Wennlund said.
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Wennlund’s law firm has represented Ferro for 20 years, and last year Wennlund supported a bill allowing Ferro’s firm to dump reclaimed asphalt into a 20-acre quarry owned by the construction company.
Wennlund said he voted against legalizing riverboat gambling in Illinois, but records show he abstained from voting on the bill the day it passed on Jan. 11, 1990. Wennlund said he is now a supporter of the boats because of the economic development it has brought to Joliet and other communities.
Wennlund argued that the contributions from the Joliet riverboat interests don’t influence his conduct as a legislator. “There is nothing I can do that can affect their operations,” he said.
Nevertheless, he said, he would oppose legislative approval of expansion of the boats to Chicago, which the current riverboat owners have also opposed.
“Sure, it is a protectionism attitude, but I want to protect 1,200 jobs” that have been brought to the region as a result of the boat, Wennlund said.
The Empress, which has been among the state’s most lucrative boats, and its owners have also been donating to local public officials in Will County, contributing $8,750 to four political committees.
In the race for the Will County executive, where contributions of $100 are the norm, the Empress made sizable donations to both candidates last November.
Gary Orler, the Republican, received $2,750, and Democrat Charles Adelman, who was seeking re-election to a second term, received $2,500.
It is only in recent years that bans on campaign contributions by some gambling concerns were lifted in Illinois. After a racetrack stock scandal in the 1970s, the General Assembly prohibited racetrack owners from contributing to political campaigns.
That 18-year prohibition was lifted in 1990 after legislators overrode Thompson’s veto of a bill making the practice legal again.
Since then, the General Assembly has consistently rejected proposed bans. A proposal this year by State Treasurer Patrick Quinn that boat owners and the boats be banned from contributing to candidates was included in a bill calling for additional regulations for the industry.
“The gambling industry carries a history of a temptation of corruption that other industries do not,” said Marj Halperin, a spokesman for Quinn.
The provision was pulled because of bipartisan opposition.
Watchdog groups such as Common Cause of Illinois support a ban on such political contributions, but other states are divided on the issue.
In New Jersey, political donations by casino owners, employees, and other corporations owned by the casino interests are prohibited, but Nevada permits the donations and the industry has consistently been the leading contributor to political candidates there, according to Common Cause of Nevada.
“The fact that New Jersey does ban contributions doesn’t make it right,” said Adrienne Levatino, a spokeswoman for the recently formed Illinois Riverboat Gaming Council. She called contribution bans an attempt “to strip (boat owners) of their rights” to participate in the political process.