Gov. Rod Blagojevich’s campaign paid more than $164,000 last fall to a Markham construction company that recently won a $24.3 million state contract and has links to the governor’s chief fundraiser, disclosure reports filed Monday show.
Castle Construction and a related construction firm have donated $224,000 to Blagojevich’s campaign.
The campaign fund is chaired by Chris Kelly, a close Blagojevich confidant. In December, the campaign fund repaid a $250,000 loan to Kelly’s consulting firm. The loan, dating to March 2002 when Blagojevich was running for office, was made by Kelly’s CGK Consulting.
The payment to Castle Construction, of Markham, was for work at a new campaign office in the Ravenswood neighborhood, according to the governor’s campaign.
“We wanted to use a union contractor and that was the reason for the selection,” said Peter Giangreco, spokesman for Blagojevich’s political operation. “We knew them and knew they would get the work done on time.”
Until Blagojevich ran for governor, Castle had not made significant contributions to Illinois politicians in recent years. It also had not won any big state contracts.
Then last year it was the winning bidder for a $24.3 million contract for work at Chicago State University, nearly 10 times the amount of state business it had received during the previous five years combined.
Kelly has said he has no financial interest in Castle, but a roofing company he owns leases space from Castle and the two firms have worked together on construction projects.
Blagojevich’s fundraising has come under increased scrutiny since the Tribune reported in November that nearly 20 percent of the appointments he made to state boards and commissions have been to contributors. On Monday, the Tribune reported that more than one quarter of the individuals and businesses that have contributed at least $50,000 to Blagojevich have also received state business during his first term in office.
Further questions were raised after Blagojevich’s father-in-law, Chicago Ald. Richard Mell (33rd), accused Kelly of peddling plum posts for contributions. Though Mell later recanted his allegation, it drew the interest of state and local prosecutors who have launched a review of the governor’s fundraising activities.
The pace of Blagojevich’s fundraising slowed dramatically, the disclosure records show. He has collected more than $37 million since the middle of 2000, but only $934,319 of that came in the last six months, the records show. Aides to Blagojevich said his campaign, which has $10.3 million in the bank, avoided major fundraising activities so more money would be left for state and national Democratic candidates.
Monday was the deadline for state and local politicians to file the disclosure reports, which cover the last six months of 2004.
The records showed that the two candidates for an open seat on the state Supreme Court in southern Illinois, a contest widely viewed as a referendum on medical malpractice reform, raised $9 million between them.
“It is the most expensive Supreme Court election in the country,” said Mary Schaafsma, the judicial project manager for the Illinois Campaign for Political Reform.
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The battle, won by Republican Lloyd Karmeier, drew national attention because of the many class-action lawsuits filed in Downstate Madison County by lawyers searching for friendly judges and sympathetic jurors.
Karmeier portrayed Democrat Gordon Maag as too friendly to class-action lawyers, whom conservative critics have blamed for filing frivolous lawsuits and driving up the cost of health care.
Karmeier raised $4.6 million to Maag’s $4.4 million.
The records also showed that in the controversial Will County state’s attorney’s race, Jeff Tomczak, the Republican incumbent who lost, spent about $207,000 in the last six months and has $283,750 in debts. His Democratic rival, James Glasgow, reported spending only $54,000 in the last six months. Glasgow’s campaign took advantage of publicity over the arrest of Tomczak’s father, a former high-ranking Chicago water department official, on federal corruption charges.
The records also showed the Democratic Party of Illinois, led by House Speaker Michael Madigan, reported raising $5.8 million while spending $7 million. It started the year with just $104,000 in the bank.
The legislative leadership funds of the Republicans spent about $5.2 million during the last six months of 2004 to help Illinois House and Senate candidates. The two Democratic leaders reported spending nearly $8.5 million.
Former House leader Lee Daniels (R-Elmhurst) reported that his committee has spent $22,000 in legal bills. The committee is under federal investigation for allegedly using state workers on his campaign staff.