The recent Waukegan mayor’s race wasn’t just notable for how close the vote tally was — Sam Cunningham edged Lisa May, 7th, with 51.6 percent of the vote to her 48.4 percent, according to unofficial returns — or because it would have given the city its first black or female mayor.
It was also distinctive because of the amount of money the two candidates spent.
The Illinois Campaign for Political Reform included the mayoral contest in a roundup of “big-money” municipal races across Chicagoland last week. The organization determined, based on campaign finance records submitted to the Illinois State Board of Elections, that nearly $136,000 was raised in the Waukegan election. Cunningham, the Democratic candidate and 1st Ward alderman, raised more than $86,700 to the independent May’s $49,260, the group found.
That amount “feels like a lot of money to the average person,” said Sarah Brune, executive director of the Illinois Campaign for Political Reform, noting that running for local office is “becoming less accessible” for everyday citizens.
Exactly how much was spent on the race has not been released to the public yet. Quarterly campaign finance records, which would include spending tallies through March 31, aren’t due until Monday.
Other contests highlighted by the Campaign for Political Reform included mayoral races in Aurora (with more than $358,100 in the race), Bolingbrook (more than $440,400), Evanston ($207,371) and Orland Park (more than $352,500).
“It makes me very sad,” May, the city’s 7th Ward alderman, said. “I mean, it really shouldn’t cost this much money.”
Unlike Cunningham, May didn’t have the support of one of the two major political parties, and that was reflected in fundraising totals. Cunningham collected more than $50,000 from the Waukegan Democratic Organization alone, according to the Campaign for Political Reform’s Illinois Sunshine website, which tracks political donations.
Cunningham won the Feb. 28 Democratic primary, defeating incumbent Mayor Wayne Motley. Illinois Sunshine records show the Waukegan Democratic Organization began donating to Cunningham’s campaign beginning March 13 and running through the April 4 election.
The Waukegan Democratic Organization was itself the recipient of some political generosity. From March 10 to March 31, the Democratic group received $50,000 across three donations from Video Gaming United, a political action committee chaired by former state Sen. Michael Bond, according to the Illinois Sunshine website. And Video Gaming United, in turn, received more than $85,000 between Nov. 8 and March 22 from Tap Room Amusement and Tap Room Gaming, two limited liability companies Bond manages.
Bond, who served as a Democrat from Grayslake between 2007 and 2011, helped to legalize video gambling in Illinois in 2009. His Libertyville firm, Tap Room Gaming, owns more than 900 slot and video poker machines across the state, with many of them in his former district, according to a story published last month by the watchdog Better Government Association.
Waukegan has long been interested in landing a full-service casino. The city has had land set aside in the Fountain Square development should the General Assembly allow expanded gambling in the state. Sen. Terry Link, D-Waukegan, has proposed measures over the years that would authorize expanded gambling, and has one pending before the legislature now.
During the campaign, Cunningham was more supportive than May of a casino in Waukegan. May, who faced a barrage of negative mailers paid for by Cunningham and Waukegan Democrats, tried to draw attention to the donations from the gambling industry before the election.
“We pointed that out during the campaign — that it was a concern that he was going to be beholden,” May said.
Cunningham pointed out that the contributions only came in after the primary.
“If you look before the primary, that was Sam Cunningham, friends and those who wanted to help,” Cunningham said. “Typically what happens is, right after those primary elections, the Democratic and Republican parties will come in and assist you. I was fortunate that the Democratic Party came in and assisted me financially with different resources.”
Cunningham’s second-largest donor after the Democrats was his own insurance agency, followed by Personnel Staffing Group, a limited liability company based in Deerfield.
“If you take a look all the way down the line from [former Mayor] Dick Hyde to Wayne Motley, we have always been pro-casino,” Cunningham said. “Always, from day one, we bought property out in Fountain Square in order to do that. … So this is not something that, Sam Cunningham is now going to be on the hook for gaming.”
Reached by phone, Bond referred questions to a Tap Room Gaming spokesman, Travis Akin. Cunningham and Bond have known each other for more than 20 years, having met when both worked at the Allstate insurance company, Akin said. Cunningham supported Bond during his run for state Senate, Akin said, and the two have “supported each other’s political careers” over the years.
“There was also a business decision,” Akin added. “Because Sam’s opponent was not exactly positioning herself to be a friend of the video gaming industry. And it made sense to support Sam over her, especially given that there wasn’t a lot of confidence that Sam’s opponent was going to be as open and friendly to supporting the video gaming industry, which supports a lot of small business owners.”
May has been more skeptical of a casino than Cunningham, but both candidates have said the city can’t wait much longer for the legislature to expand gambling before exploring other options at the Fountain Square site.
But if a casino is in the cards, “there’s no way that a city mayor, Sam or Lisa, Wayne Motley, Dick Hyde, [former Mayor] Bob Sabonjian, would have denied the multi-mega-economic opportunity that would have brought to this community,” Cunningham said. “There’s no way we could have said no to that.”
As far as video gambling, Cunningham would have the power to approve liquor licenses for those seeking to put gambling machines in their establishments. But the mayor-elect said he feels there are already too many in Waukegan.
“I believe that Wayne Motley issued too many liquor licenses,” Cunningham said. “Now, the commodity of having those machines in our city has dwindled. You can go anywhere to get them.”
Cunningham said he had a conversation with Bond about his mayoral transition and spoke with him about infrastructure, but he said Bond has not been an official part of the transition team and will not be a member of his mayoral administration.
May’s largest donation was a $10,500 contribution from the Illinois chapter of the Sierra Club, an influential environmental group that endorsed her candidacy, according to the Illinois Sunshine website. She also received $5,400 from a family member to kickstart her campaign, she said, and $5,000 from the Craig M. Linn Trust, which is associated with Anne Linn, who she wanted to hire as corporation counsel, she said.
Twitter @lucashammill
