Oct. 15 was the Illinois statewide candidates' deadline for filing their 2014 third quarter campaign contributions with the Illinois State Board of Elections. All together, the 10 candidates for statewide office spent more than $42 million from July 1 to Oct. 1. The candidates for governor, Democrat Gov. Pat Quinn and Republican Bruce Rauner, spent more than $35 million.
Between July 1 and Oct. 1, Republican candidate for governor Bruce Rauner received more than $20 million in donations and spent almost as much. The Quinn campaign received and spent less than Rauner's over the last three months. Quinn received more than 8 million in donations and spent more than $15 million.
For the most part, candidates who are showing stronger in the polls had campaigns with more money than their opponents. Two of the only campaigns that ended the quarter with more money than they started with were Secretary of State Jesse White's and Comptroller Judy Baar Topinka's, two strong incumbent candidates. The treasurer candidates' campaigns (the only race without an incumbent) were the only two that did not follow this pattern.
Check out every candidate's quarter three financial breakdown from the Illinois State Board of Elections at Reboot Illinois.
Illinois' state finances are also under scrutiny. No matter who wins the election, Illinois will have to find a way to deal with its bill backlog, pension debt and come to a conclusion about whether or not to raise the income tax. But there are 13 things about the 2015 state budget that are absolutely absurd.
1. Unpaid bills and other General Fund liabilities are expected to increase from $6.0 billion in FY2014 to $6.4 billion in FY2015, marking the first year-end increase since fiscal year 2012 when the backlog was roughly $8.8 billion.
2. General Funds revenue to decline by $1.7 billion to $35.1 billion in FY2015, which includes $402 million in income tax diversions.
3. The 2015 budget will borrow $650 million from the state's Special Funds, a sum that must be repaid within 18 months in order to boost General Funds assets to $35.8 billion.
Check out 10 more crazy facts at Reboot Illinois.
