State board's $10 million fine against Senate President Don Harmon for fundraising is ‘ridiculous,' lawyer says

Yahoo

2 hours ago

Calling nearly $10 million in penalties that state election officials issued against Illinois Senate President Don Harmon for exceeding campaign contribution limits 'ridiculous and unconstitutional,' an attorney for the Oak Park Democrat argued Wednesday the longtime legislator did not violate the political fundraising law he helped write.
Harmon, who is seeking to have the matter dismissed, did not appear before an Illinois State Board of Elections hearing officer considering his appeal of the penalties the board issued in June. The penalties stemmed from board staff's earlier determination that his Friends of Don Harmon for State Senate campaign fund last year accepted more than $4 million above the contribution limits that he championed years ago as an effort to rein in big money in political campaigns. The board reviewed the issue after a Chicago Tribune inquiry about the fundraising activities of Harmon's state Senate campaign committee.
Harmon's attorney, longtime Democratic Party lawyer Michael Kasper, argued the elections board misinterpreted the law that allows candidates to collect unlimited contributions if anyone seeking the same office — themselves or an opponent — exceeds a so-called self-funding threshold.
Taking advantage of the frequently used loophole in a law purportedly designed to help candidates compete with wealthy opponents, Harmon, who co-sponsored the law when it passed years ago, contributed $100,001 to his own campaign in January 2023. It was precisely $1 over the contribution limit threshold that allowed him or anyone else running for his Senate seat to accept unlimited funds for that race. In campaign paperwork, Harmon indicated he thought the move allowed him to collect unlimited cash through the November 2024 election cycle. But board officials informed him that the loophole would only be open through the March 2024 primary, meaning campaign cash he received from some contributors between the March primary and the end of the year exceeded the limits.
During Wednesday's hearing and in a 14-page appeal filed last month, Kasper argued that the law allows the contribution limits to be lifted through the March 2026 primary, which is the next time Harmon's west suburban Senate seat will appear on the ballot.
'That is the election for which the self-funding candidate is a candidate,' Kasper said.
Under the board staff's interpretation, he said, Harmon would have been able to raise unlimited funds prior to the March 2024 primary only to have the contribution limits put back in place afterward, putting anyone who chose to run against Harmon after the primary at a competitive disadvantage.
'The legislature enacted this statute to provide an opportunity to compete against self-funders,' Kasper said. 'The board's interpretation of this does the opposite. It lets the rich get richer and defeats the very purpose of equalization because it allows a self-funder to front-load his coffers and then effectively shut off the spigot at precisely the time where the spigot needs to be open the most for everybody else.'
Under the board's interpretation, the law also would treat candidates for the Illinois House and Senate unequally because House members need to run for office every two years and Senate candidates have one, 2-year term and two, 4-year terms each decade, Kasper said.
In a filing Friday, the board rejected Harmon's argument that the contribution limits should have remained off through the March 2026 primary, contending the 'plain language' of state election law makes it clear the contribution limits go back into effect at the start of each new 'election cycle' — the day after a primary or the start of a new calendar year after a general election. When the winner of a primary has exceeded the self-funding threshold, however, the limits remain off until after the subsequent general election.
Harmon's 'claim that after self-funding, the candidate can accept an unlimited amount of funds from an individual until a year in which he runs for office ignores the crucial role of election cycles in governing both contribution limits and self-funding,' Marni Malowitz, the board's general counsel, wrote. 'Senator Harmon demonstrated he already knew this by self-funding in advance of the 2020 general primary election and, once limits were reestablished, self-funding again to remove contribution limits for the remainder of the year, even though he did not run for office in 2020. The difference between 2020 and 2024 is that Senator Harmon did not self-fund after the general primary as he did in 2020.'
The hearing officer, Northbrook attorney Barbara Goodman, asked Kasper whether that history was relevant to this case.
It is not, Kasper said, adding: 'If the rules require you to wear a belt, there's no prohibition against wearing belt and suspenders. But if you're just wearing a belt, you're not breaking the rule. It doesn't change the rule.'
The board did not present an argument during the hearing, which lasted less than an hour.
The next step is for Goodman to issue a recommendation, though she didn't provide a timeline for reviewing the case. The board's general counsel will review that recommendation before the board takes final action, possibly at its September meeting.
The $9.8 million in penalties proposed by the board includes a payment to the state's general fund equal to the more than $4 million election officials say Harmon raised in excess of the contribution limits, plus a nearly $5.8 million fine calculated based on 150% of that same amount.
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