One candidate spent far more than the other in two hotly contested aldemanic races in Evanston. In one case the bigger spender won — in the other, he lost.
Newly filed campaign finance disclosure reports show that challenger Ed Tivador spent more than two-and-a-half-times as much as incumbent Judy Fiske in his losing bid for the 1st Ward aldermanic seat.
Meanwhile incumbent Mark Tendam outspent challenger Mark Sloane by more than three-to-one to hang on to his 6th Ward aldermanic position.
1st Ward
Tivador, who came within six percentage points of beating Fiske, received itemized contributions of $150 or more from 18 donors, more than twice as many as Fiske, although the average contribution size to each was roughly smilar.
Tivador donors included several local developers and business owners, including Robert King and Bob Horne. He also received backing from Future Evanston, a business-oriented special interest group, and from the Realtor Political Action Committee.
Donors to Fiske included two neighbors on the 2300 block of Sherman Avenue and hotel owner David Reynolds. The only donation from outside the ward came from David Cherry, a 7th Ward resident.
Both campaigns spent heavily on lawn signs and buttons, with Fiske reporting over $1,500 spent on that to more than $5,000 for Tivador.
They each paid roughly similar amounts for campaign websites, but Fiske spent twice as much on newspaper advertising. Tivador reported spending more than $6,000 on printing.
Fiske was the only aldermanic candidate to report spending money on a law firm to do what was described as “campaign work.”
6th Ward
Tendam, who defeated Sloane by a two-to-one margin, reported 17 itemized contributions, mostly from individual ward residents. But he also received funds from Mayor Elizabeht Tisdahl, from MWRD Commissioner Debra Shore, from State Sen. Daniel Biss and U.S. Rep. Jan Schakowsky. Of those, only Biss is a resident of the ward.
Tendam also loaned his campaign $2,000 of his own funds.
Challenger Mark Sloane may have largely self-financed his unsuccessful campaign. He reported no individual contributions and a $1,700 loan to his own campaign.
He also reported having $1,765 on hand when he filed organizing papers for the campaign committee, and the reports provide no detail on the source of those funds.
Tendam reported spending $2,170 on lawn signs and buttons, $3,353 on printing, $1,015 on a website, $1,600 for a campaign kickoff event at the Central Street Cafe and $2,117 on ads in newspapers and in program books for non-profit groups.
Sloane reported spending at total of more than $3,200 to design, print and mail a campaign brochure.
5th Ward
Neither incumbent Delores Holmes or write-in challenger Carlis Sutton have filed quarterly campaign finance reports, indicating they each spent less than $3,000 on their campaigns.
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Fiske carried all but student precinct
Why would Jan Schakowsky give money to Tendam?
Aren't city council elections about finding who the local people of the ward want to represent them? What would be the goal of Schakowsky giving Tendam's campaign money?
What does she gain by having him on council? What would she risk if Sloane got on instead?
The same goes for the other contributors who live outside the ward.
The same questions could be asked of the Tivador campaign. However, in his case, I think the rationale and connection is pretty clear.
Why Jan Schakowsky gave money to Tendam
She is an Evanston resident, thus she has a vested interest in the city council. No different than any other resident.
It’s pretty obvious
From Opensecrets.org. … Tendam has contributed $5,400 to Schakowsky's campaigns over the past seven years.