WICKER PARK — Two lawmakers included in a report by former city watchdog Faisal Khan that alleges "potentially illegal" contributions to dozens of aldermen are firing back.
Earlier this week, the report by Khan, now CEO of group called Project Six, alleged that 37 of the city's 50 aldermen accepted the campaign donations from real estate developers, lobbyists, and city vendors in 2015. He said such suspect donations came from "business entities and individuals that directly benefited from legislation in City Council."
Khan argued that donations have "simply become a toll residents and businesses have to pay to run a business or receive the necessary services they’re entitled to from the city."
“It is no secret that money plays a massive role in the political system of Chicago,” said Khan.
Ald. Joe Moreno (1st), who is cited in the report for receiving $42,300 in suspect donations, responded: "I comply with all campaign finance rules and these misleading allegations by Mr. Khan don't provide the facts."
Moreno also questioned who is behind Project Six, saying he is "troubled by the lack of disclosure of which wealthy business interests are funding Mr. Khan's efforts" and describing Khan's new organization as a "dark money front group."
Ald. Joe Moore (49th) has told the Sun-Times he suspects Khan's organization is being funded by Gov. Bruce Rauner's "friends and supporters." On its web site, Project Six describes itself as "an independent, nonprofit organization dedicated to investigating, exposing and ending government corruption in Chicago and across Illinois."
The campaign of Ald. Brian Hopkins (2nd), who Khan alleges accepted more than $96,700 in suspect donations, the most of any City Council member, said Hopkins is "in full compliance with all campaign disclosure requirements and contribution limits."
If what Khan alleges was true, "we trust the Board of Elections would notify us of any errors so we could take corrective action," Hopkins campaign office said.
Khan left his post as a legislative inspector last year when his term ended and the position was eliminated. Khan has clashed with Moore in the past, charging in July of 2013 that Moore had used his ward office to do political work. That charge by Khan led to an FBI investigation. Moore said at the time the claim was based on false accusations by a disgruntled employee and called Khan "unprofessional."
Khan's Project Six report from this week says that in 2015, there was $10,835,210 in political donations collected by Chicago aldermen. Of those donations, $501,259 violated campaign finance regulations and are potentially illegal, he charged.
Project Six gathered the information by reviewing all political donation data from 2015 from the Illinois State Board of Elections. All reported campaign donations are publicly available.
Though the City of Chicago has restrictions and regulations on the amount of money political candidates can receive from individuals and businesses, those rules are "wide ranging," according to Ken Menzel, general counsel of the Illinois Board of Elections and the city has wide discretion in enforcement.
The report resulted in 37 complaints that were filed with the Office of the Inspector General, according to Nate Hamilton, a Project Six spokesman.
"Hopefully they'll look into it," Hamilton said.
Project Six highlights donations it considers potentially illegal:
Hopkins' 2015 Campaign Committee Funders:
Moreno's 2015 contributions, with the potentially illegal amounts, highlighted in red, are below.
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