During the Madison County Board meeting on Oct. 19, board member Mick Madison (R-Bethalto) raised concerns about Democratic Sen. Kris Tharp continuing his employment with the county as Jail Administrator while simultaneously serving as a state senator.
Tharp was sworn in to the Senate District 56 vacancy in July after former Sen. Rachelle Aud Crowe was appointed to serve as the U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of Illinois.
Tharp previously announced his intention to seek election to the seat in May after Crowe was confirmed as U.S. Attorney and terminated her state senate campaign. He was then appointed to the position by the Democratic County Chairs for the 56th Legislative State Senate District, giving him the advantage of running as an incumbent. He challenges Republican candidate Erica Conway Harriss, who announced her campaign - against Crowe at that time - in March.
During the board meeting, Madison never mentioned Tharp’s name specifically, but he is the only Madison County employee also currently serving as a state senator.
Madison questioned the appropriateness of Tharp filling both roles at the same time.
“I don’t think it’s fair to the taxpayers that we’re allowing that to happen,” Madison said. “I don’t know what the law is on that, but it seems to me that it shouldn’t be right.”
Assistant State’s Attorney Emily Johnson Nielsen said she had already been asked to look into the legality of Tharp’s dual roles, but didn’t say by whom. She said authority on the issue comes solely from an opinion by the Illinois Attorney General’s Office, which allows an individual to hold a state office while also serving as a county employee with some limitations.
The opinion Nielsen referenced was issued by former Attorney General Lisa Madigan on Dec. 23, 2014, in regards to Rep. John Cabello (R-Loves Park, Ill.) Cabello was appointed to the Illinois House of Representatives in August 2012. He was then elected to the seat in 2014. At the time, Cabello was also employed as a police detective by the City of Rockford.
Madigan penned the opinion in response to a letter “inquiring whether a member of the Illinois House of Representatives may simultaneously be employed as a city police detective and receive the salary and other fringe benefits of that position while performing his legislative duties.”
She opined that “the constitutional debates clearly reflect that it was the framers’ intent to allow a General Assembly member to be employed by another governmental entity, as long as he or she does not receive compensation from that public employment for the time during which the General Assembly is in session and not in recess.”
Madigan added that a member of the General Assembly “may not receive fringe benefits from public employment, such as accruing vacation time, sick leave, or paid time off, if the benefits are calculated to include credit for time that the General Assembly was in session.”
Campaign contributions increased
Both Harriss and Tharp have reported an uptick in campaign contributions, pulling in around $1 million in the past month during their final stretch of campaigning for the Nov. 8 election.
Harriss’s campaign committee, Erica for Illinois, reported a total of $956,262.52 in individual and in-kind contributions for the reporting period from July 1 through Sept. 30.
Third quarter contributions for Harriss increased by more than 1,802 percent from her second quarter contributions, which reportedly totaled $50,267.68 in receipts and in-kind contributions.
Harriss also reported a total of $763,482.71 in expenditures for the third quarter.
More recently, Erica for Illinois has reported more than $894,307 in contributions in the past month, including the following:
- $166,686 from the Senate Republican Victory Fund on Oct. 6
- $1,000 from retired attorney Jeff Hebrank on Oct. 5
- $1,114.96 from the Senate Republican Victory Fund on Oct. 5
- $31,492.85 from the Illinois Republican Party on Oct. 6
- $1,000 from DeWitte for Illinois Senate on Oct. 8
- $2,200, $5,567, and $12,000 from the Senate Republican Victory Fund on Oct. 10
- $1,000 from the Manufacturers PAC on Oct. 11
- $37,331.74 from the Illinois Republican Party on Oct. 11
- $22,365.66 from the Senate Republican Victory Fund on Oct. 12
- $141,236 from the Senate Republican Victory Fund on Oct. 13
- $1,500 and $2,047 from the Senate Republican Victory Fund on Oct. 14
- $5,000 from Plummer for Illinois on Oct. 17
- $1,500 from NFIB Illinois PAC on Oct. 18
- $2,500 from DENT-IL PAC on Oct. 18
- $37,331.74 from the Illinois Republican Party on Oct. 18
- $2,500 from Friends of John Curran on Oct. 20
- $188,686 from the Senate Republican Victory Fund on Oct. 21
- $5,100 from Plummer for Illinois on Oct. 24
- $28,552.48 from the Illinois Republican Party on Oct. 26
- $2,500 from Friends of Jason Barickman on Oct. 26
- $2,500 from Contractors for Free Enterprise on Oct. 26
- $3,000 from the Committee to Elect Terri Bryant on Oct. 26
- $2,500 from Associated General Contractors of IL PAC on Oct. 26
- $10,000 from Brady for Senate Inc. on Oct. 27
- $386,029 from the Senate Republican Victory Fund on Oct. 27
- $2,047.92 and $1,500 from the Senate Republican Victory Fund on Oct. 31
Tharp’s third quarter contributions increased by more than 529 percent from his second quarter contributions, which reportedly totaled $162,212 in receipts.
Tharp also reported $965,755.94 in total expenditures for the third quarter.
In the past month, Kris Tharp for Senate reported more than $1.4 million in contributions, including the following:
- $200,000 from the Illinois Senate Democratic Fund (ISDF) on Oct. 6
- $5,800 from SMART Local 265 on Oct. 7
- $5,000 from Operating Engineers Local 520 on Oct. 7
- $2,000 from Ameren Illinois PAC on Oct. 7
- $15,000 from SWAC AFT COPE on Oct. 11
- $50,000 from ISDF on Oct. 11
- $10,000 from the Fraternal Order of Police-Chicago Lodge on Oct. 11
- $200,000 and $2,263.33 from ISDF on Oct. 14
- $50,000 from IPACE on Oct. 17
- $30,000 from Illinois Federation of Teachers COPE on Oct. 17
- $200,000 and $19,449 from ISDF on Oct. 19
- $100,000 from ISDF on Oct. 20
- $2,500 from Stand for Children Illinois PAC on Oct. 20
- $1,000 from Prairie PAC on Oct. 20
- $1,500 from CUPAC on Oct. 20
- $50,000 from ISDF on Oct. 21
- $2,500 from Troopac on Oct. 21
- $4,000 from Wise Morrissey on Oct. 24
- $200,000 from ISDF on Oct. 26
- $100,000 from ISDF on Oct. 27
- $160,000 from ISDF on Oct. 28
- $2,273 from Illinois AFL-CIO COPE on Oct. 28
- $1,000 from attorney John Barnerd of Simmons Hanly Conroy on Oct. 31
- $2,500 from Cook County College Teachers Union COPE on Oct. 31
- $55,003.25 from ISDF on Oct. 31
- $2,000 from UFCW Local 881 PAC on Oct. 31
- $2,000 from the University Professionals of Illinois on Oct. 31
- $2,263.33 from ISDF on Nov. 1