Author: Rick Pearson
(Chicago Tribune-October 14, 2025)—
The Illinois State Board of Elections will decide next week whether it should follow a hearing officer’s recommendation and reject state Senate President Don Harmon’s appeal of a nearly $10 million fine for accepting campaign contributions in excess of state campaign finance limits.
The board at its Tuesday meeting will consider the recommendation of Northbrook attorney Barbara Goodman, who heard arguments from Harmon’s attorney on Aug. 20 and found last week that Harmon’s campaign committee “failed to establish by a preponderance of the evidence that the assessment was in error or that no actual violation of (the law) occurred.”
At issue is an Illinois election law, which Harmon co-sponsored, aimed at curbing the influence of big money in political campaigns and one key provision that ostensibly was written to ensure lesser-funded candidates weren’t hurt by the campaign contribution limits. The provision sought to offset challenges from deep-pocketed rivals who self-fund their campaigns or have help from wealthy independent expenditure groups by lifting contribution limits for all candidates in a contest.
But the lifting of limits after a candidate gave themselves more than $250,000 in a statewide race or $100,000 in other races quickly became a way for powerful incumbents, including Harmon, to take in unlimited donations to enhance their own electability and engender loyalty by being able to distribute money to the campaigns of allies.
The issue in Harmon’s case centered on what constitutes “an election cycle” and was more complicated as Senate terms are split between two- and four-year terms, unlike those of the Illinois House, which are run every two years. Harmon argued that the time limit for accepting unlimited campaign contributions lasted beyond just the next state election to when his own office was actually up on the ballot.
Election board staff determined that the Friends of Don Harmon for State Senate campaign fund last year accepted more than $4 million above the contribution limits. The board’s action was prompted by a Chicago Tribune inquiry about the committee’s fundraising activities.
Harmon contributed $100,001 to his own campaign in January 2023 and, in his appeal, indicated he thought the move allowed him to collect unlimited cash throughout the November 2024 election cycle. But board officials informed him the loophole would only remain open through the March 2024 primary, meaning any campaign cash exceeding the contribution limits that he received after the primary through the end of the year was not allowed.
Harmon was not a 2024 candidate but is on the ballot next year.
The board staff in June levied a fine of $9.8 million against Harmon’s political fund, but he appealed and sought to have the case dismissed and his committee’s attorney, veteran Democratic Party attorney Michael Kasper, made his arguments to the hearing officer on Aug. 20.
But Goodman said that “based upon the plain language” of the statute, as well as Harmon’s previous actions under the self-funding statute, “the evidence establishes that the committee did, in fact, exceed the contribution limits and the assessment of civil penalties was appropriate.” She recommended the full board deny Harmon’s appeal and declare “that the assessment of penalties stands.”
In her 15-page recommendation, Goodman noted that on four previous occasions in lifting the contribution cap, Harmon’s political committee had followed what the election board staff had considered to be “election cycles.”
“Nevertheless, the committee for the first time either changed its interpretation of the time period for the lifting of the contribution limits or simply chose to ignore them,” Goodman wrote. When she asked Kasper about the change, she said he “advised the prior interpretations were not relevant.”
“The statute did not change. The candidate and committee’s conduct inexplicably changed when it did not file a Notification of Self-Funding after the March 19, 2024 election and no cognizable justification was given for its failure to do so,” she wrote.
Kasper’s appeal also contended the board staff’s fine was “unconstitutional.” But matters of constitutionality cannot be considered by the elections board, though it could become the basis of a court appeal if the fine is allowed to stand.
Political consultant Tom Bowen, a spokesperson for Harmon’s political operation, said, “We are confident in our legal interpretation of this matter and look forward to presenting our arguments at the next phase of this process.”
The eight-member State Board of Elections consists of four Republicans and four Democrats. The board could either vote to accept the hearing officer’s recommendation or side with Harmon’s appeal. A split vote, a likely possibility given the board’s makeup, would let the fine stand, but Harmon can appeal the decision in circuit court.
The libertarian-leaning Liberty Justice Center, which frequently advocates on behalf of Republican causes, had sought to intervene in the case, but Goodman rejected the effort.
Ryan Morrison, the center’s senior counsel, said he was “pleased” that Goodman “correctly interpreted the law, found that Senator Harmon violated it, and concluded that the charges and fines against him should stand.”
Morrison said if the board does not accept Goodman’s recommendation or deadlocks on a tie vote, it would appeal to allow it to intervene “to ensure that the campaign finance laws in Illinois are correctly and consistently applied.”
The $9.8 million in penalties proposed by the board’s staff includes a payment to the state’s general fund equal to the more than $4 million that election officials say Harmon raised in excess of the contribution limits, plus a nearly $5.8 million fine calculated based on 150% of that same amount.
Read the Article at Chicago Tribune website here.