A decision on State Sen. Don Harmon’s (D-Oak Park) appeal of a $9.8 million fine by the Illinois State Board of Elections’ will be made at the board’s Oct. 21 meeting.
The hearing will take place in both the ISBE’s Chicago and Springfield offices and will be live streamed on You Tube.
“It should be conclusive,” Matt Dietrich, ISBE spokesman, said of the board meeting, with the caveat, “Barring anything out of the ordinary.”
Dietrich said Harmon’s appeal will be on the election board’s agenda that will be posted on its website Oct. 15; that agenda will include the formal recommendations by ISBE hearing officer Barbara Goodman, who presided over Harmon’s appeal hearing Aug. 20.
ISBE General Counsel Marni Malowitz will then forward her recommendations to the full eight member elections board sometime before the Oct. 21 meeting.
“Usually, the General Counsel agrees with the hearing officer,” Dietrich said. “But not always.”
Dietrich said Malowitz will make her recommendation publicly before the board, and board members will question her and possibly Harmon’s attorney, Michael Kasper.
The full board will then deliberate publicly and entertain motions for action.
The elections board, which is appointed by the governor, has four Democrats and four Republicans. Any decision will require agreement by five members of the board, with at least one member of both parties approving any motion.
In the event a given motion is defeated or deadlocked, additional motions can be made.
“It doesn’t happen very often, but there could be a deadlock,” Dietrich allowed.
In June the ISBE notified the Harmon campaign that it faced a $9.8 million fine, alleging that Friends of Don Harmon had violated state campaign finance law by taking in approximately $4 million more than it was legally allowed to receive.
Harmon had loaned his campaign more than $100,000 prior to the April 1, 2024 primary, an action that lifted the contribution cap under what’s called the self-funding exemption.
However, after the primary, the ISBE ruled the cap was automatically reinstated after the primary election was held, and that Harmon’s campaign took in nearly $4 million in donations above the contribution cap. Harmon and his attorney, Kasper, have argued that the fund raising cap should have remained off, since Harmon was not on the 2024 primary ballot.
At an August hearing in downtown Chicago, Goodman listened to Kasper’s arguments for some 40 minutes, occasionally querying him on certain points. Malowitz was present but did not make any legal arguments.
“I don’t think anyone ever intended for the caps to be put back on in the middle of an election,” Kasper told Goodman, arguing that the funding cap should have remained off until at least the 2024 general election, and possibly longer.
Noting that a key clause in the statute reads “all candidates for that office,” Kasper said, “The first opportunity someone can be a candidate for that office is March 17, 2026.”
Asked by Goodman at the conclusion of the hearing to opine on when it was he believed the contribution cap should be re-applied, Kasper replied, “March 17, 2026. Because that is the election for which the self-funded candidate (Harmon) is a candidate.”
“I’ll take the matter under advisement.” Goodman said in closing the hearing. “Both sides have given me lots to think about and I’ll render my recommendation as soon as possible.”