SPRINGFIELD – Three public employee unions facing a new restriction on their political action gave State Rep. Jay Hoffman of Belleville $202,900 in the last two and a half years under the old rules.
He received $70,000 from the Illinois Education Association, $67,500 from the Illinois Federation of Teachers, and $65,400 from the American Federation of State, County, and Municipal Employees.
Since 2012, those three have accounted for about a fifth of all transfers Hoffman has received from political action committees.
All that time, they forced members to pay dues for political action.
They lost that power this June 27, when the U.S. Supreme Court ruled 5-4 that compulsory political action violated First Amendment rights, in Janus v. AFSCME.
Hoffman’s situation illustrates the peril for Democrats as they wait to discover the extent of their loss.
From 2000 to 2011, he received $61,450 from the education association, $47,000 from the teacher federation, and $18,250 from the state employee federation.
Those three accounted for 7.6 percent of transfers to Hoffman.
In 2012, he received $30,000 from the education association, $15,500 from the teacher federation, and $5,000 from the state employee federation.
In 2013, he received $15,000 from the education association, $10,500 from the teacher federation, and $1,000 from the state employee federation.
In 2014, he received $20,000 from the education association, $8,000 from the teacher federation, and $500 from the state employee federation.
In 2015, he received $10,000 from the education association and $5,000 from the teacher federation.
In 2016, he received $35,000 from the education association and $10,000 each from the federations.
In 2017, he received $55,400 from the state employee federation, $35,000 from the education association, and $5,000 from the teacher federation.
The teacher federation gave him $52,500 this year, representing 36 percent of all transfers in the first six months.
Overall, in six and a half years, Hoffman received $323,400 from the three.
Among $1,632,994 in transfers, they accounted for 19.8 percent.
Three smaller unions of public employees gave Hoffman $29,500, pushing the group’s share to 21.6 percent.
He received $18,500 from a state association of firefighters, $6,500 from Chicago firefighters, and $4,500 from Chicago teachers.
For the moment, Hoffman operates on a solid treasury.
Last year, he received $180,700 from entities of the laborers union in Washington, Chicago, Springfield and Swansea.
Carpenters gave him $53,400, and electricians gave him $54,400.
On June 30, he had $803,685.20 on hand.
On Aug. 7, he reported that he raised $26,000 from the Simmons Hanly Conroy firm of Alton on Aug. 6.
He received $11,000 from the firm itself and $2,500 each from Michael Angelides, John Barnerd, Perry Browder, and Ted Gianaris.
Nicholas Angelides, Randy Cohn, Amy Garrett, Christopher Guinn, and Timothy Thompson each contributed $1,000.
In November, Hoffman faces Republican Doug Jameson of Belleville, an Army veteran, realtor and former county GOP chairperson.