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Spotcheck
Newsletter of the Illinois
Campaign for Political Reform
July
23, 2003
* Study Documents Profiteering by TV Stations
* ICPR Testimony on Help America Vote Act Efforts, Emerald Casino License
* Campaign Disclosure Deadline Approaching
Study Documents Profiteering by TV Stations
Local television stations around the country jacked up the prices of candidate
ads by an average of more than 50 percent in the two months before the 2002
election, exploiting the campaign-driven spike in demand, according to a study
released today by the Alliance for Better Campaigns. The price hikes by television
stations around the country occurred despite a three-decades old federal law
that is supposed to prevent such pre-election profiteering.
Chicago had two stations in the Top 10: WLS (ABC, Channel 7) and WMAQ (NBC,
Channel 5), both of which showed over $10 million in political ad sales during
2002.
ICPR is a partner with the Alliance for Better Campaigns in the effort to ensure
better news coverage and a more informed citizenry. For more about the study,
click: http://www.ourairwaves.org/reports/display.php?ReportID=11
ICPR Testimony on Help America Vote Act Efforts, Emerald Casino License
ICPR has been busy pressing the reform case before Illinois' administrative
bodies. In testimony before the Illinois State Board of Elections, ICPR urged
the inclusion of voters' guides in the state's plan to implement the federal
Help America Vote Act. HAVA was passed by Congress to help avoid a Florida-style
melt down in future elections. We continue to support the recommendations of
the Illinois Voters' Guide Task Force, that mailing information directly to
Illinoisans will increase voter turn out, better educate voters about who is
running and how to properly cast a ballot, and ensure more smooth-running procedures
at polling places. For ICPR's voters' guide testimony, click: http://ilcampaign.org/reports/HelpVote.html
ICPR also urged the State Gaming Board to reject the proposed settlement of
the Emerald Casino License. ICPR's logic found echoes in a court filing by Attorney
General Lisa Madigan which objected to provisions of the settlement to reimburse
the original investors. For ICPR's gaming testimony, click: http://ilcampaign.org/issuebriefings/EmeraldTestimony.html
Campaign Disclosure Deadline Approaching
Candidates and other political committees have until July 31 to file their campaign
finance disclosure reports for the first half of 2003. As of July 23, the State
Board reported receiving 1388 reports from the 3394 active political committees.
Of the 1388 reports received, 488 are in electronic format. Note that the threshold
for electronic filing is currently $25,000; with reports for the later half
of 2003, the threshold drops to $10,000.
ICPR intends to analyze the filings and post an updated Sunshine Database to
our website as soon as humanly possible. Watch the website for updates!
