BELLEVILLE – Lawyers independently supporting Fifth District appellate court candidate Kevin Hoerner paid $26,500 to Hart Research of Washington for polling on Oct. 7, state election board records show.
That amount exceeds the entire campaign fund of his opponent, Justice David Overstreet, as of Sept. 30.
Hart Research chairman Peter Hart, who formed the firm in 1971, lists former vice president Hubert Humphrey among his clients.
The firm’s website states that it has conducted more than 8,000 opinion surveys and more than 7,500 focus groups and interviews.
Payment for the polling came from Fair Judicial Alliance, which organized as an independent campaign committee on Sept. 6.
The alliance raised $50,000 through four equal contributions from the firms of John Simmons, Randy Gori, Tom Keefe, and Neil Maune.
On Sept. 6, the alliance paid $13,000 to New Chicago Consulting for target research and $2,000 to Strategic Information Services of Chicago for district analysis.
The Hart Research payment left $8,500 in the alliance’s fund.
Hoerner’s campaign fund held $55,601.43 on June 30.
In July, he received $1,000 each from Christopher Layloff of Gori’s firm and the Belleville law office of Rhonda Fiss.
On Aug. 1, the Southern Illinois Miners baseball club in Marion provided Hoerner with $3,140 for room rental, food, and beverages.
Simmons owns the team.
Lawyer Patrick Salvi of Winnetka gave Hoerner $1.000 on Aug. 4, and management consultant George Sfondilis of Inverness gave him $1,000 on Aug. 9.
On Aug. 27, Hoerner raised $23,450.
Simmons’s firm gave him $10,750, and firm members Michael Angelides, Perry Browder, Jayne Conroy, and Paul Hanly each gave him $1,000.
Chicago lawyer Philip Corboy gave him $2,700.
St. Louis accountant Kevin Carlie gave him $1,000.
Illinois Pipe Trades Council, in Springfield, gave him $5,000.
On Sept. 26, the Korein Tillery firm of St. Louis gave him $2,500.
As of Oct. 9, with six days left to file a quarterly report, Hoerner hadn’t filed one.
Overstreet filed a report early, showing he had $15,363.02 available on Sept. 30.
He reported $13,950 in individual contributions for the quarter.
No one gave him more than $1,000, and no one gave him $1,000 except the firm of brothers Stephen and Michael McGlynn.
Overstreet spent $24,513.29, mostly on printing, signs, and media production.