Welcome to the Reader‘s morning briefing for Monday, March 27, 2017.
There won’t be limits on campaign donations in upcoming governor’s race after Kennedy donation
Businessman and Democratic gubernatorial candidate Chris Kennedy donated $250,100 to his own campaign fund, ending the limit on campaign donations for the 2018 Illinois gubernatorial race. If a candidate gives him- or herself more than $250,000 or an “outside independent expenditure group uses that amount of money to try to influence the outcome of an election,” the donation limit of $5,600 for individuals and $11,100 for unions and corporations is lifted in a statewide race, the Tribune reports. Governor Bruce Rauner put $50 million of his own money into his campaign, which didn’t lift the donation limit because it happened before 2017, and businessman and potential candidate J.B. Pritzker recently put $200,000 of his own money into his exploratory bid. “I don’t think this kind of tremendous amount of money from the very richest people in our state is what’s good for our state,” rival Democratic gubernatorial candidate Illinois state senator Daniel Biss said in an interview with WGN Radio. [Tribune]
