An unprecedented influx of political cash — most of it from outside Illinois — is feeding an inescapable wave of television attack ads aimed at manipulating voters in the final weeks of high-stakes campaigns for U.S. Senate and governor.
The money makes up the bulk of more than $45 million spent since September on political advertising in Chicago’s television market alone — enough to buy all the local commercial time in a typical month, according to advertising data reviewed by the Tribune.
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Helping fuel the ad spending in the Senate race this year are millions of dollars from groups that do not have to disclose the source or size of their donations, such as Crossroads Grassroots Political Strategies, co-founded by former George W. Bush political guru Karl Rove.
Moreover, some of the national groups funneling money into the governor’s race are taking donations from Illinois companies prohibited from making direct contributions to the candidates under a new law aimed at curbing Illinois’ pay-to-play culture.
With both sides looking for the slightest edge in the dead-heat races, the advertising all that money is buying is relentlessly nasty and often blurs the lines between reality and rhetoric.
In the Senate race, Democrat Alexi Giannoulias is portrayed as a mob banker and Republican Mark Kirk as a serial liar. In the governor’s race, Democratic Gov. Pat Quinn is a “pitiful” failure and Republican state Sen. Bill Brady is compared to a string of crooked governors.
“It’s the political equivalent of a World War I battle,” said veteran political observer David Yepsen. “A whole lot of blood is being spilled for very few gains.”
The spending reflects a national political fervor as Republicans here and around the country try to regain a foothold in Tuesday’s elections. The tight Illinois races have accelerated spending — nearly $2 million in political ad buys were reported Friday in the Senate race, with more expected before voters go to the polls.
Republicans are achingly close to capturing the Senate seat that launched President Barack Obama into the White House — a symbolic trophy in their efforts to erode Democratic control of Congress. Obama has sought to protect his seat with three campaign visits to Illinois, including this weekend.
The governor’s race is the GOP’s best chance to end one-party control of Springfield and give Republicans a voice in the all-important redrawing of boundaries that determine control of the General Assembly.
“The state’s financial problems and ethical problems, combined with angst over the economy, have created a politically toxic brew in the state, and Republicans sense some opportunities,” said Yepsen, head of the Paul Simon Public Policy Institute at Southern Illinois University at Carbondale.
Those factors have resulted in a never-before-seen influx of outside cash and independent expenditures on behalf of major state candidates. Traditionally, Illinois had largely been immune to third-party groups trying to influence the outcome of an election. In a state with wealthy, politically active donors, major campaigns also had little problems with fundraising.
But the past four years have seen the rise of independent groups that can accept larger donations than political action committees regulated by federal campaign law. Then in January, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that special interests could not be limited in their direct advocacy of candidates, prompting the formation of groups that can take unlimited, undisclosed donations.
The overall fundraising in the two races won’t be known until more than a month after the election, but TV spending has already put Illinois among a handful of the most expensive governor and Senate contests in the country.
The $19.7 million in Chicago TV ads for the Senate race since September includes $11 million spent by outside groups —$7.3 million for Kirk and $3.7 million for Giannoulias.
The governor’s race has spawned more than $10.5 million in Chicago TV ads. Brady received $4.7 million from the Republican Governors Association to help with ad buys and the group is spending another $1 million for ads on his behalf. Quinn has spent $4.8 million on Chicago TV ads since September with a campaign fund bolstered by $4.4 million from outside groups.
The other political ads in the Chicago market are focused on other state, local and federal races.
Among the biggest players in the Senate race is Crossroads Grassroots Policy Strategies and its sister group, American Crossroads.
Together, the groups have spent about $6 million in Illinois on TV ads critical of Giannoulias, with most of the money coming from undisclosed donations to Crossroads GPS. The other Rove group discloses donations.
“An awful lot of both negativity, and also the amount of ads that have ratcheted up this cycle, has been because of the ability to do it secretly,” said former Virginia Gov. Tim Kaine, chairman of the Democratic National Committee. “There’s an awful lot of people who will (go heavily negative) secretly who won’t do it if they have to be held accountable for what they’re putting on the air.”
But Jonathan Collegio, a spokesman for both Crossroads groups, contends criticism from Democrats was a “case of selective outrage.”
“There is really nothing new about outside money being used in these campaigns,” Collegio said. “I think they are all indignant now because we’ve begun to operate better under the model they developed.”
In Chicago alone, Kirk has benefited by more than $4.4 million in Crossroads TV ads attacking the Democrat. Of that, $3.5 million came from undisclosed donors giving to Crossroads GPS. Kirk also was helped by almost $2 million in TV ads paid for by the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, which didn’t have to disclose its sources.
More than $1.5 million in TV ads for Kirk were funded by the National Republican Senatorial Committee, which discloses its contributors. Kirk’s campaign, with donors publicly identified, paid for more than $2 million worth of commercials.
Giannoulias’ campaign paid for more than $4.7 million in TV airtime in Chicago, while the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee was in for more than $3.6 million, not counting Friday’s figures.
In the governor’s race, Brady’s largest single contributor since July has been the Republican Governors Association, which has provided him with $5.7 million largely to fund negative TV ads critical of Quinn.
RGA spokesman Michael Schrimpf said the organization worked hard to build its political support from less than $25 million in 2006 to more than $59 million so far this year as part of a “four-year plan to win back a majority in the country.”
“We are providing more information to the voters of Illinois and we’re leveling the playing field with the labor unions who have been very effective in supporting Democrats,” Schrimpf said.
The RGA’s chairman, Mississippi Gov. Haley Barbour, was more blunt. Informed that his outside group was Brady’s biggest benefactor in the general election, Barbour replied, “Good. We want to be.”
The Democratic Governors Association provided $1.9 million for ads to Quinn in July and August, but the governor also has benefited from $2.5 million in outside cash from the national arms of public employees and labor unions.
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Records show that some of the contributors to the national governors groups are also state contractors, who are now precluded from donating directly to the candidates under a new law aimed at the fundraising practices of former Gov. Rod Blagojevich. He vetoed the legislation but lawmakers overrode him to put the law on the books.
Under the law, most state contractors can no longer contribute to the campaigns of statewide politicians whose offices would decide or oversee their contracts.
Schaumburg-based communications technology giant Motorola Inc. contributed $160,000 each to the Democratic and Republican governors groups this year. A company spokesman said Motorola was not informed nor did it inquire whether any of that money was coming back to Illinois, and the donations were not intended to skirt the new ethics law.
“We do not influence the allocation of that money,” said Nick Sweers, a company spokesman. “There are 37 governors races in the country this year and our interest is national policy issues.”
Sweers said the company has been a longtime supporter of both national groups. Before the new state law, Motorola contributed $117,500 to governors dating to the Edgar administration in 1997, including $78,000 to Blagojevich.
Reflecting the often cozy connections in campaign fundraising, the Kirk and Brady camps share a commonality through a little-known group, the Chicago-based New Prosperity Foundation. The foundation has spent about $700,000 — mainly for mailings attacking Giannoulias.
A co-chair of New Prosperity is Ronald Gidwitz, the wealthy but unsuccessful 2006 candidate for the GOP nomination for governor, who is the general chairman of Brady’s campaign for governor. The other co-chair, Gregory Baise, is president of the Illinois Manufacturers’ Association, a group whose political arm has given at least $450,000 to Brady since September.
Among New Prosperity’s biggest donations was $250,000 from American Crossroads.
Tribune reporter David Heinzmann contributed.