Durkin campaign filing raises questions about lobbyist contributions, PAC power in Illinois
(The Center Square) – Former Illinois House Republican Leader Jim Durkin’s reactivated campaign committee is raising questions about the political influence former lawmakers retain after leaving office, particularly as lobbyists continue contributing to elected officials they may seek to influence.
Campaign finance records show Citizens for Durkin reported transactions totaling $15,250 on Oct. 20, including entries listed under Commonwealth Edison, Health Care Service Corporation, NRG Energy, Home Depot and UnitedHealth Group. The filing came shortly after Durkin endorsed Democratic Gov. J.B. Pritzker over Republican challenger Darren Bailey.
Durkin, now a lobbyist, said the transactions involve old campaign funds returned by the Illinois Treasurer’s Office rather than money he solicited or raised.
“In response to your questions, my campaign committee was reactivated due to the return of old campaign funds in the possession of the unclaimed property division of the Illinois Treasurer Office,” Durkin told The Center Square. “I did not solicit nor raise these funds.”
Durkin said he consulted with the Illinois State Board of Elections and was advised to reactivate the committee to receive the funds. He added that transactions would be disclosed according to state law.
Alisa Kaplan, executive director of Reform for Illinois, which operates the campaign finance database Illinois Sunshine, said the activity warrants scrutiny but cautioned against assuming wrongdoing.
“We have no evidence that there’s any wrongdoing here,” Kaplan said. “It definitely raises questions about what’s going on, but we don’t have any evidence that Jim Durkin has done anything wrong.”
Kaplan said Citizens for Durkin has been converted from a candidate committee into a political action committee, or PAC. Such committees can pool money from multiple sources and contribute larger amounts to candidates than individuals can give personally.
“Anybody can form a PAC,” Kaplan said. “It’s their First Amendment right.”
However, Kaplan said PACs can make it harder for the public to immediately identify the original sources of political money. When a PAC contributes to a candidate, the contribution is reported under the PAC’s name, requiring additional research to trace the funds.
“If Durkin’s PAC now donates to a candidate, that donation is going to look like it came from Durkin’s PAC, not from the corporation,” Kaplan said.
Kaplan said Illinois should consider stronger rules governing how long former candidates can maintain campaign committees. She also identified lobbyist contributions to lawmakers as a broader concern.
Illinois restricts gifts lobbyists can give public officials, but campaign contributions are excluded from the state’s gift ban, Kaplan said.
“It really just invites, it opens the door to pay to play politics,” Kaplan said, while emphasizing she was not alleging such conduct in Durkin’s case.
Kaplan said the public should watch how Citizens for Durkin uses its funds and whether its political activity relates to Durkin’s other work.
Bailey’s campaign criticized former legislators maintaining campaign funds.
“The culture of corruption in Springfield is massive and Jim Durkin is exactly what’s wrong with the system,” the Bailey campaign told The Center Square. “Former legislators should not be allowed to fundraise or benefit financially from unclosed campaign accounts.”
The campaign said a Bailey/Del Mar administration would seek to “clean house and protect Illinois residents from this ongoing waste and corruption.”
Pritzker’s campaign did not respond to a request for comment.
Durkin has denied soliciting or raising the funds.
The Illinois State Board of Elections confirmed that funds returned through the state’s unclaimed property process must be reported as campaign contributions under the original contributors’ names, even if the money was previously donated. ComEd said it has not made campaign donations since 2019, when it issued a contribution to Citizens for Durkin that was never processed. In 2022, the state flagged the contribution as unclaimed property, and the campaign requested a reissued check.
ComEd said the campaign soon ceased activity and the replacement check also went unprocessed.
The elections board said reactivating a closed campaign committee by filing a new statement of organization is the proper procedure for receiving and reporting such funds.
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