Incumbent County Board President Todd Stroger’s most recent fundraising report, filed this morning, confirmed what many have believed for weeks: The campaign’s fundraising is running on fumes.
In reports detailing fundraising for the second half of 2009 filed with the state board of elections, Stroger’s campaign shows it raised just $54,127 for the last six months of 2009.
At the end of 2009, it had $152,544 on hand. In the July filings, showing the cash flow for the first part of 2009, the campaign had $640,000 in the bank.
The campaign has struggled to raise funds in 2010, as well. It was helped yesterday with a $100,000 donation from former Illinois Senate President Emil Jones, putting it at $115,000 for 2010. The semi-annual report was due by 11:59 Wednesday night, but was filed by the Stroger campaign until nearly 4 a.m. Thursday. It most likely won’t face a penalty, however.
Stroger’s campaign has estimated its budget to be about $2 million, though stipulating not all of that has been raised or spent. The filings show the true numbers are much lower.
The D-2 form is sprinkled with smaller donations of $100 or $125, with a few $1,000 here and there.
The largest influx of cash if a $10,000 loan from the International Union of Operating Engineers Local 399.
The campaign’s largest expense in 2009, according to the filings, is the purchase of a $500,000 CD with Amalgamated Bank.
Stroger, whose opponents have had an easier time raising money in 2009 and 2010, will have to spend each penny wisely for the remaining two weeks of the primary campaign.
See the whole report here.
UPDATE: The campaign also benefited from more than $13,000 in tranfers from other political campaigns and more than $38,000 in other non-itemized funds. With those funds included, the campaign brought in $103,905 in the latter half of 2009. However, campaign donations from individuals netted less than $55,000.