Illinois Liberty PAC v. Raoul challenges the constitutionality of a campaign finance law that limited free speech for everyone, except political parties and their leaders. The Liberty Justice Center filed this lawsuit to end the enforcement of this statute so that everyone has access to unlimited free speech.
The excerpt below is from an article by Greg Hinz that appeared July 25, 2012, on Crain’s Chicago Business.
Another legal challenge has been filed to Illinois’ post-Blagojevich campaign-finance law, this one alleging that the law unfairly discriminates in favor of “party bosses.”
In an action filed in U.S. District Court here this morning, Liberty Justice Center, a conservative/libertarian legal group that counts former gubernatorial hopeful Dan Proft as a director, asks the court to throw out limits on its ability to donate as much as it wants to whomever it wants.
Under the law, political party committees can spend without limit in general elections, but individuals, political action committees and companies are limited to $5,000, $50,000 and $10,000, respectively.
With political committees headed by state Democratic Party Chairman and Illinois House Speaker Michael Madigan alone spending $15 million in the last election cycle, the law is “a scheme to further consolidate power in the hands of party bosses,” said Mr. Proft, who is chairman of Illinois Liberty PAC, the plaintiff in the case. He’s also a talk-show host on WLS-AM/890.
He added, “Party bosses should have to live under the same laws they impose on the rest of us.”
Mr. Madigan and Senate President John Cullerton were not immediately available for comment. But the suit won some limited backing from one top political reformer: David Morrison, deputy director of the Illinois Campaign for Political Reform.
Read the full article on Crain’s Chicago Business.
