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TexasTowelie

(117,269 posts)
Sun Jul 28, 2019, 03:15 PM Jul 2019

How Illinois pols have pocketed more than $5M in what Barack Obama once dubbed 'legalized bribery'

In January, with her 24 years on the Chicago City Council drawing to the end, Ald. Marge Laurino (39th) gave herself a reward: a $27,789.78 payout from her campaign fund.

Two months later, newly retired Sen. James Clayborne Jr., a Belleville Democrat, similarly marked the occasion by paying himself $42,204.65 out of his campaign fund.

For both, the amounts matched to the penny the balance each officeholder had in their political accounts on June 30, 1998.

That’s a magic date for elected officials in Illinois. That’s because it yields a magic number: the amount of money they legally can keep for themselves, no questions asked.

Read more: https://chicago.suntimes.com/columnists/2019/7/26/8930350/campaign-funds-illinois-elected-officials-personal-payouts-ethics-reform

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