Gov. Pat Quinn said Friday a campaign aide made an embarrassing mistake by calling Springfield interest groups to raise political money and denied any intention of demanding contributions in exchange for special access to him.
Gov. Pat Quinn said Friday a campaign aide made an embarrassing mistake by calling Springfield interest groups to raise political money and denied any intention of demanding contributions in exchange for special access to him.
But representatives from two trade associations told The Associated Press that Quinn’s campaign contacted them offering "face time." In one case, political director Holly Copeland acknowledged the need for political contributions but did not mention a specific amount. In another, she said the campaign’s "goal" for the meeting was $15,000.
Quinn said Copeland was supposed to contact groups that had offered to raise money for him and make arrangements. But Quinn said he learned Friday the aide went further and called groups he hadn’t approved.
When asked how much they should donate, Quinn said Copeland often suggested $15,000.
"It’s embarrassing, I’m sorry it happened. When I learned of it, I took appropriate action. I’ve been very careful in my entire political and public life to do things by the book, and I intend to do that all the time," Quinn said.
The Democratic governor denied the incident would hurt his credibility as someone who wants to clean up state government in the wake of the scandals surrounding former Gov. Rod Blagoejvich, who was removed from office and indicted earlier this year.
Word of Quinn’s fundraising misstep, first reported by the political newsletter Capitol Fax, came on a day when ethics was the chief topic at the state Capitol.
The Senate postponed action on a measure limiting the size of campaign donations because of deep differences over the specifics. A Senate subcommittee rejected a long list of ideas suggested by the Illinois Reform Commission that Quinn created.
The head of the reform commission, Patrick Collins, declined to comment on Quinn’s fundraising, saying he didn’t know the facts. But he did point out that a $15,000 donation would be illegal under the commission’s recommendations.
"Big money corrupts," Collins said.
State Sen. Bill Brady, a Republican candidate for governor in 2010, said Friday he’s asked Attorney General Lisa Madigan to look into the fundraising calls.
"We are in the closing days of a legislative session centering on a budget and the need for serious ethics reforms," Brady, of Bloomington, said. "This kind of fundraising effort has no place in Illinois today or any day."
Quinn said Copeland made a mistake but would keep her job and won’t be making any more calls about summertime fundraisers until after the legislative session.
Copeland did not return a call for comment.
In a statement issued Friday evening, the campaign said Copeland called the trade associations about holding a breakfast or lunch fundraiser for Quinn in June or July, after the end of the current legislative session.
"At no time did any campaign staff member suggest that access to the Governor would be limited to campaign donors, nor was any promise of special treatment made to campaign supporters," the statement said.
Representatives from two trade associations, speaking on condition of anonymity for fear of reprisal, said Quinn’s campaign office had called their organizations in recent days.
Copeland left this voice mail with one of the groups: "This is Holly Copeland. I’m Gov. Quinn’s political director and I wanted to reach out to you with an opportunity that the governor had asked that I contact you about."
The representative of one group said that when he spoke to Copeland about a week ago, she asked if he would like to get a group of people together to meet with Quinn.
"It went something like this: ‘Hi, I’m Holly from the governor’s political office and the governor would like to make available to you some face time to talk about your industry, talk about your issues, and just get to know each other,’" the representative recalled. "I immediately said, ‘Are you fundraising?’ She said, ‘We have to fundraise to get re-elected.’"
Copeland did not mention an amount and the representative cut the conversation short. He said he told her the organization does not discuss issues when it offers campaign contributions and that it doesn’t discuss fundraising during the legislative session, which isn’t scheduled to end for another week.
The representative of another organization said Copeland’s call came Thursday, offering a "great opportunity" to meet with Quinn. When the person receiving the call noticed that it was coming from Quinn’s political office, an inquiry was made as to whether it was a fundraising call.
"She said, ‘Our goal is $15,000,’" the representative said.
The representative said there was no mention of specific issues or the ongoing legislative session.
Associated Press Writer Christopher Wills contributed to this report from Springfield.
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