New Illinois law bans 'dark money' in judicial races - Quad City Times

SPRINGFIELD — A new law in Illinois aims to ban out-of-state contributions and so-called “dark money” in judicial campaigns by requiring all candidates to disclose the sources of their contributions.

Gov. J.B. Pritzker on Monday signed Senate Bill 536 into law, an omnibus elections bill that makes a number of other changes to the way elections are conducted.

Under the bill, no judicial campaign committee is allowed to accept contributions from any out-of-state source or any person or entity that does not disclose the identity of those making the contribution, except for contributions that are below the threshold for itemizing.

The bill also raises the threshold for itemizing contributions to $1,000, up from $500.

It also prohibits people from making or accepting anonymous contributions or contributions made in someone else’s name.

Democrats pushed the bill through the General Assembly on the final day of the fall veto session. It came about partly in response to the 2020 elections in which Supreme Court Justice Thomas Kilbride, a Democrat, was defeated for retention, the first time in state history that a state Supreme Court justice failed to win retention.

During that campaign, a group called Citizens for Judicial Fairness spent more than $5.9 million on a campaign to defeat Killbride, $4.5 million of which came from Chicago billionaire Ken Griffin, founder of the hedge fund Citadel LLC, according to campaign finance reports. Those types of donations would be unaffected by the new law.

source: https://qctimes.com/news/state-and-regional/govt-and-politics/new-illinois-law-bans-dark-money-in-judicial-races/article_356a2805-b745-559c-bd17-a9c5252f9e3f.html

Your content is great. However, if any of the content contained herein violates any rights of yours, including those of copyright, please contact us immediately by e-mail at media[@]kissrpr.com.