SPRINGFIELD – Ninety percent of the $1.9 million in contributions and transfers received by Supreme Court Justice Thomas Kilbride in the third quarter came from sources in or near Chicago and St. Louis.
The people Kilbride represents in the Third District, which includes Rock Island County to the west and Will County to the east, delivered less than three percent of those contributions. And since Oct. 1, less than one percent of the $2,045,206.25 in contributions - or $13,000 - have come from within the district.
Kilbride's biggest booster this cycle as well as in previous elections is the Democratic Party of Illinois, led by House Speaker Michael Madigan. The party gave Kilbride $550,000 on Oct. 16.
Madigan helped elect Kilbride in 2000 and retain him in 2010. In 2016, Kilbride delivered an opinion that protected the redistricting power of Madigan.
Kilbride needs 60 percent approval to retain his seat.
He began the quarter with $4,113.33 in available funds.
Through Sept. 30, he received $1,556,150 from individuals including businesses and $325,050 from campaign committees, for a total of $1,881,200.
He reported 64 individual contributions from Cook, Lake, DuPage, and Kane counties, adding up to $1,103,750 at an average of $17,246.
He reported 14 transfers from committees in those counties adding up to $284,600 at an average of $20,329.
He reported seven individual contributions from the St. Louis area adding up to $301,000 at an average of $43,000.
He reported a single transfer from St. Louis, $5,000 from the carpenters union.
In all, sources in and around Chicago and St. Louis gave him $1,694,350.
All other sources gave him $186,850.
Kilbride loaned himself $110,000 on Sept. 11, and declared a self funding campaign to trigger a lifting of limits on contributions.
The firms of Tom Keefe in Swansea, John Simmons in Alton, and Stephen Tillery in St. Louis each gave $100,000.
In Chicago, Robert Clifford’s firm and those of Cooney and Conway, Corboy and Demetrio, Power Rogers, and Salvi Schostok each gave $100,000.
The Gori firm in Edwardsville gave $82,500.
Kilbride’s biggest transfer came from the Illinois Federation of Teachers in Westmont, who gave $157,800.
The federation’s local in Crest Hill added $20,000.
Laborers in Burr Ridge gave $57,800.
Such numbers dwarf those from the Third District, where 24 individuals gave Kilbride $29,450 and 17 committees transferred $24,200 to him.
His biggest individual contribution came from lawyer Laird Ozmon of Joliet in Will County, the sole suburban county in the Third District.
His biggest transfer came from operating engineers in Peoria, who gave $10,000.
He reported $3,920 in contributions he didn’t itemize.
He loaned his campaign $110,000, bringing total receipts to $1,995,120.
He spent $1,531,639.84.
He paid $1,245,423 for media through Buying Time of Washington and paid $1,245,413 to Mad Dog Mail of Fernandia Beach, Florida.
As of Sept. 30, he had $467,593.49 available.
When Kilbride lifted the limit on individual contributions, he lifted it for any committee opposing his retention.
Such a committee appeared on Sept. 17, when Jim Nowlan of Toulan filed articles of organization for Citizens for Judicial Fairness.
Chicago hedge fund manager Ken Griffin gave the committee $2 million on Oct. 9.