Entries associated with the tag "Campaign funding":

The other day I wrote about how 12th Ward alderman George Cardenas hadn't raised a single buck in the first half of 2008, according to his most recent campaign filings, even though he'd brought in tens of thousands in the two reporting periods before this one.

Monday he told me it had nothing to do with the official end of the Hispanic Democratic Organization, which had helped him win his seat--twice.

Cardenas said his fund-raising was down because he's in office to give, not to receive.

“I don’t have any relatives on the payroll, and I’ve been here, what, five, six years?”

Five.

“I don’t have anybody on the city payroll, the county payroll, nothing. I didn’t come here to get something. I came to try to do something for the community.”

And it’s not that he couldn’t have raised more money the first half of the year; he just decided not to.

“I think a lot of businesses don’t like to fund political candidates,” he said. “A lot of people ask, ‘So what does he do with that money?’”

Still, it is unusual for an alderman or any elected official to stop fund-raising altogether. “We did raise a little,” Cardenas said. “We had one small event.”

But the records he submitted to the state election board say he didn’t get any contributions. None.

“My accountant will probably have to send in a correction.”

Cardenas said he actually asked people not to donate to his campaign fund.

“Before, I’d pay for jumping jacks at community events, or buy beverages or piñatas,” he said. “So this time I’m asking people to donate straight to the community events or groups. They can buy the beverages for them directly. I think it’s better to do it that way, especially since I’m not running for anything right now.”

As for the HDO . . .

“There's a misconception about that," he said. "Those folks helped me when I first got elected, and they helped other elected officials as well. But the way I see it is that you’re really on your own. Me, I’m a businessman. I could always go back to that. I can fend for myself quite nicely.”

The Hispanic Democratic Organization filed papers this week shutting down its official campaign committee (which may not mean it doesn't exist anymore in another form).

A few hours earlier, 12th Ward alderman George Cardenas, one of the last people elected with the help of the infamous group, filed paperwork showing a precipitous drop in fund-raising—from tens of thousands of dollars last year down to zilch so far in 2008.

The HDO was seemingly on the wane after the feds started indicting people in the City Hall hiring scandal a couple of years ago. But during aldermanic election season last year, sources told me they’d seen HDO leaders and minions campaigning with Cardenas in his southwest-side ward. When pressed, the alderman didn’t deny it. But despite being a top target of organized labor, Cardenas crushed his well-funded challenger.

He appeared to have little trouble raising money then. During the first half of 2007, including the campaign season, Cardenas raked in about $180,000 from donors and borrowed another $30,000 from his personal funds. From July to December of last year his fund-raising slowed, as would be expected following an election cycle, but he still collected more than $33,000, respectable for a Chicago alderman.

Then came 2008. Here’s what the top of his latest report, covering the first six months of this year, looked like:

RECEIPTS

1. Individual Contributions:

    a. Itemized $0.00

    b. Not-Itemized $0.00

2. Transfers In:

    a. Itemized $0.00

    b. Not-Itemized $0.00

3. Loans Received:

    a. Itemized $0.00

    b. Not-Itemized $0.00

4. Other Receipts:

    a. Itemized $0.00

    b. Not-Itemized $0.00

TOTAL RECEIPTS (1-4) $0.00

Oh, and he still owes himself that $30K. 

Maybe Cardenas is going to need to build his own political organization between now and 2011.

Regardless, it's curious.