October 10, 2006

In This Issue:
• "Fitzgerald on Fitzgerald" on Thursday, November 9th at 12 p.m
• The Debate about Debates
• Seek and Find
• Special Election Bonus

"Fitzgerald on Fitzgerald" on Thursday, November 9th at 12 p.m
On Thursday, November 9th, the Illinois Campaign for Political Reform will welcome former U.S. Senator Peter G. Fitzgerald, who recommended and fought for the appointment of Patrick J. Fitzgerald as U.S. Attorney for the Northern District of Illinois. Senator Fitzgerald will discuss the behind-the-scenes story of that appointment and reflect on its impact. This luncheon will take place at the Union League Club of Chicago. The charge for the event is $75 and reservations are required. More details as well as registration materials will be available soon on the ICPR website or call 312-335-1767.

The Debate about Debates
Illinois has a long tradition of public deb! ates between candidates about the future direction of government, but you wouldn't know it from seeing this year's crop of gubernatorial candidates. It now appears that the major party candidates won't debate again, and Green nominee Rich Whitney wasn't invited to the radio debate in Decatur last week. Cindi Canary was in yesterday's State Journal-Register about the need for debates; you can download a pdf of her guest op-ed here.

Seek and Find
Despite state law requiring campaigns to reveal the occupation and employer of their major donors, both Gov. Blagojevich and Treasurer Topinka left that information out of their most recent disclosure reports. Even if the candidates don't fully know who's giving to them, we'd like to code these donors in the Sunshine Database. ICPR posted the name! s of these donors on our blog, The Race is On, and loyal blog readers responded. Can you help, too? Look over this list and see if you see any names you recognize.

Special Election Bonus
ICPR is conducting its regular fundraising drive now and we have a special incentive for Spotcheck subscribers. Donate $100 or more through our website and we'll give you a copy of the 2006 Election Advent Calendar. Put together by some of our friends at other Illinois non-profits, the Election Advent Calendar is a great way to count down the days to the General Election with fun facts and informative pictures for each day. And it's our gift to people who help us to keep up the fight for reform in Illinois. Of course, as always, Spotcheck subscribers who give at all levels will receive our sincere appreciation.

Please consider making a donation to ICPR. We need your contributions and your help to clean up Illinois politics. Visit our online donations page.

ICPR Spotcheck is a publication of The Illinois Campaign for Political Reform, a non-partisan public interest group that educates, conducts research, and advocates reforms to promote public participation in government, address the role of money in politics, and encourage integrity, accountability, and transparency in government.

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