A07, Proviso First Party probably in violation of law [D209]

Thursday I visited the Illinois State Board of Elections and learned a couple facts about the Proviso First Party. The committee has only filed a statement of organization. Robin Foreman is the chair of the party and Bob Cox is the treasurer.

The statement of organization was filed April 3. Since it was filed less than thirty days before the election the party wasn't required to file a pre-election report.

However, the requirement to declare all contributions over $500--monetary or in-kind--still applies. These contributions are required to be reported within 48 hours.

The committee has sent at least five mailings. I have received at least three. Mailing to the entire district costs about $8,000. Obviously the committee has bought a large number of signs too. I seems likely the Proviso First Party has spent $25-50,000.

The party could be in compliance with all election laws if it raised all this money in contributions of less than $500.

I stopped by the Citizens for Better Schools campaign office yesterday. One of the projects on which they were working was submitting a formal complaint to the state board of elections.