SPRINGFIELD – Governor JB Pritzker, having spent $353 million of his personal fortune on elections in five years, dug into a different pocket for Democrat Supreme Court candidates Elizabeth Rochford and Mary O’Brien.
A revocable trust of Jay Robert Pritzker contributed $500,000 to Rochford on Oct. 27 and $500,000 to O’Brien on Oct. 28. In total, Pritzker has given each of them $1 million.
On Tuesday, two former Illinois prosecutors and a former appellate court justice held a press conference in Chicago to highlight what they called an "unprecedented level of spending" by Pritzker and other Democratic leaders on the two contested Illinois Supreme Court races in the Chicago suburbs.
Former Kane County state’s attorney Joe McMahon, former appellate court justice Bob Spence, and State Sen. John Curran, who served as an assistant state’s attorney in Cook County, spoke out against the millions of dollars Pritzker, Speaker Emanuel Welch, Senate President Don Harmon, and other Democratic lawmakers have spent to elect O’Brien and Rochford.
Rochford and former Lake County sheriff Mark Curran seek a seat in the Second Judicial District, an area of Chicago suburbs outside Cook County.
The winner will replace Justice Michael Carter, who took a seat by appointment when Justice Robert Thomas retired.
O’Brien and Michael Burke seek a seat in the Third District, an area mostly of Chicago suburbs with a rural region to the southwest.
Burke holds the seat by appointment as successor to Justice James Kilbride, who fell short of 60 percent approval for retention in 2020.
Victories for Curran and Burke would give Republicans a majority at the Court for the first time since adoption of the state constitution in 1970.
“All of us are here today because the future of good government, reforms like independent map and fair maps, public safety, bipartisanship in the State of Illinois are on the ballot in this election for the Illinois Supreme Court in the 2nd and 3rd districts," McMahon said at the press conference.
"The independence of all three coequal branches of government is critical to restoring Illinois as a leader in job creation, public safety where people want to work and live. An independent and impartial jury is critical to good government and is the only remaining check on the absolute political power of the Democrat Party in Cook County. Public confidence in judicial independence and impartiality is eroding when leaders of the other two branches of government try to control and dictate the outcome of judicial elections.”
Spence said the Supreme Court is supposed to be "a check on the General Assembly and on the Governor."
He said that other issues that could be decided by the high court are gerrymandering and fair maps.
Spending by Democratic lawmakers in the supreme court races has "major implications for the independence of Illinois’ judiciary," according to the former prosecutors and appellate justice.
They said the outcome of the races could decide the future of legislative redistricting as well as the SAFE-T Act and other issues that Pritzker, Harmon, and Welch have a major stake in.
"This unusual level of involvement from lawmakers in a Supreme Court race hasn’t been seen since Speaker Mike Madigan bankrolled the failed retention campaign of former Supreme Court Justice Tom Kilbride," they said in a press release.
As of Oct. 31, Pritzker, Welch, Harmon and other Democratic lawmakers have spent over $3.5 million to elect O’Brien and Rochford:
Harmon and other Democratic lawmakers have poured in $850,000 to an outside political action group - “All for Justice” - that backs O’Brien and Rochford.
Provisions of the “SAFE-T Act,” including the controversial elimination of cash bail, go into effect across Illinois on January 1, 2023.
So far, 58 Democratic and Republican State’s Attorneys - including Madison County State's Attorney Tom Haine - have filed suit against Pritzker and others over the constitutionality of the legislation. The plaintiffs were granted a motion to consolidate into one suit - Rowe v Raoul - which could make its way to the Illinois Supreme Court to decide its fate.
The decision as to the constitutionality of the SAFE-T Act could ultimately hinge on the decisions of two justices who have received millions of dollars from SAFE-T Act champions - Pritzker, Welch, Harmon, and others - as part of their pathway to the Supreme Court.
Pritzker's $500,000 donations to Rochford and O'Brien from one of his many financial trusts "was a convenient way to skirt campaign contribution limits for judicial races that Pritzker himself signed into law just five months ago," according to McMahon, Spence and Curran.
Welch has given Rochford $350,000 and O'Brien $150,000.
Pritzker dough
The name Jay Robert on Pritzker’s trust fund doesn’t match JB but state election board records show him as Jay, Jay A., Jay R., Jay B, Jay Robert, and JB.
He contributed more than $400,000 to candidates before he ran for governor.
He contributed $7 million to his campaign committee in November 2017 and $7 million in December.
He contributed $129.3 million to his committee in 2018, and the committee passed much of it through to his party and its candidates.
His committee sent about $1.7 million to Rock Island County’s central committee, which passed all of it through to others.
Madison County’s central committee got a tenth of it.
As governor Pritzker gave his committee $7 million in 2019 and 2020.
He created Yes for Fairness to promote a constitutional amendment for heavier taxes on higher incomes and gave it $5 million in December 2019.
In June 2020 he gave it $51.5 million.
He gave it $1.5 million a week before the election but voters turned him down.
He gave his campaign committee $35 million last year, $90 million this January, and $20 million in September.
In the third quarter his committee transferred $15.3 million to Rochford, O’Brien and other committees.
A committee for House candidates received $6 million.
The state party received $3 million and so did a committee for House candidates.
A committee for the Senate and the party in Cook County each received $1 million.
Attorney General Kwame Raoul received $1 million and so did former state treasurer Alex Giannoulias, candidate for secretary of state.
Transfers to central committees reflected party priorities.
St. Clair County and DuPage County each received $100,000.
McHenry County received $87,500.
Will and Lake counties each received $65,000.
Kane County received $60,000 and McLean County received $55,000.
Champaign and Winnebago counties each received $50,000.
Peoria County received $40,000 and Kendall County received $33,000.
Madison County received $30,500, Rock Island County received $30,000, and Jackson County received $25,000.
DeKalb, Knox, and Stephenson counties each received $10,000.
Macoupin County received $5,600, Fulton County received $5,060, and Whiteside County received $5,000.
Christian County received $500.
Twelve legislative candidates received $169,700, none of them south of Decatur.