Peoria Standard

Rep. Ryan Spain (R-Peoria), said a campaign finance bill will only "rig the rules" and make it easier for the Democrats in the next election.

"In 2020 a sitting Supreme Court justice was not retained for the first time in recent memory, perhaps under the current composition of the court for the last 60 to 70 years," Spain said from the House floor on April 8. "So, in response to that Democrat not being retained, what did the rest of the Democrat leaders do in this state? You went about redistricting the Supreme Court in the state of Illinois. Now here you are making further changes to rig the rules of the game and cheat the system so that it can benefit you in the next election."

House Bill 716 amends the state's election code and creates the Public Financing of Judicial Elections Task Force. Judicial candidates also would be barred from receiving more than $500 during an election cycle from any group that is not required to disclose its contributors.

“It's critically important that we know who is contributing to campaigns, all the more so for judicial campaigns,” Senate President Don Harmon (D-Oak Park), said, as reported by WCBU. “People or entities should not be able to mask their contributions by making it through another entity. A quote unquote not-for-profit corporation shouldn't be allowed to amass resources from undisclosed contributors, and then pass that through to candidates, especially in a judicial race.”

House Bill 716 passed along party lines in both the House and Senate.

Illinois Supreme Court Justice Thomas Kilbride lost his bid for re-election to the state's Supreme Court in 2020. The Chicago Tribune reported that a record $10.7 million had been donated to the retention campaign between the two sides. Kilbride's campaign had received $550,000 from former House Speaker Michael Madigan's campaign committee.