Mayoral Hopeful Did Not Break State Law by Giving out Thousands in Cash, Checks: Hearing Officer
ICPR was mentioned in this article.
Via – Chicago Tribune
“Chicago mayoral candidate Willie Wilson’s more than $200,000 giveaway at a South Side church last month did not violate state election law, a hearing officer wrote in a recommendation to the State Board of Elections.
The controversy stems from a July 22 event at New Covenant Missionary Baptist Church in the Chatham neighborhood where Gov. Bruce Rauner joined Wilson, who handed out hundreds of thousands in cash and checks.
The Illinois Campaign for Political Reform filed a complaint earlier this month with the elections board alleging Wilson violated state law by not reporting the money he gave away at the church as an in-kind contribution to Wilson’s mayoral political committee.
While the Wilson campaign has maintained that the nonprofit Dr. Willie Wilson Foundation is a completely separate organization from his political operation, the ICPR noted that the two groups have used the same spokesman and that scenes from the July 22 event were shown on the Wilson for Mayor political campaign’s Facebook page.
But in a written recommendation, hearing officer James Tenuto said the event didn’t violate state law as alleged by ICPR. A “zealous volunteer” mistakenly livestreamed the event to the campaign Facebook and “steps have been taken to prevent reoccurrence,” Tenuto noted in his recommendation.
One of the emails sent to publicize the event “was inadvertently sent from” a campaign email, he also wrote.
Tenuto said the event was publicized as a property tax giveaway to assist taxpayers in danger of losing their homes and the event was “not planned to benefit the candidate.”
There were no political speeches at the event, Tenuto said, and there was no requirement recipients be registered voters. Suburban taxpayers made up 25 percent of the recipients, and they weren’t urged to vote for Wilson, Tenuto said.
“Most significantly, Willie Wilson has a 30-year history of charitable donations throughout the country,” Tenuto said.
Wilson campaign spokesman Scott Winslow said the recommendation is “what we’ve said all along.”
“Dr. Wilson has been a philanthropist for nearly 30 years,” Winslow said.
Wilson is a millionaire businessman who once owned several McDonald’s franchises and is the current CEO of Omar Medical Supplies. He is the sponsor and host of “Singsation,” a Sunday gospel TV show that airs on WGN.
Amid controversy afterward, Rauner criticized the July giveaway and Attorney General Lisa Madigan opened an “inquiry” into Wilson’s foundation while her office emphasized that their questions were “routine” and they weren’t investigating potential vote-buying.
Wilson has been defiant about his giving, saying he has “a right to do what I want to do with my own money.”
Noting he was raised in the Jim Crow South, Wilson, who is black, said at a news conference earlier this month, “I’m just tired of white people telling me what to do with my own money.”
ICPR policy director Alisa Kaplan said they’re “obviously disappointed in the recommendation” but it’s “just as important to highlight this issue and we can continue this discussion.”
The State Board of Elections will meet Friday and consider the hearing officer’s recommendation.”
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