Gov. Rauner pours in nearly $46 million as part of bid to cut Speaker Madigan's power

[Stellar]

th little more than two weeks until Election Day, Republican Gov. Bruce Rauner's personal investment in eroding the ranks of legislative Democrats led by House Speaker Michael Madigan has grown to nearly $46 million, state campaign finance records show.

The massive influx of cash represents the election-year battle lines playing out in Illinois after more than a year of fighting between Rauner, the first-term governor, and Madigan, the nation’s longest-serving speaker, over the future of the state.

Democrats hold supermajorities in the House and Senate and have been able to stymie Rauner’s economic agenda, which calls for changes in laws that would weaken traditional Democratic allies in organized labor and among workers’ compensation attorneys. The Democrats' refusal to move on those issues led to a lengthy budget stalemate, which culminated in a temporary spending plan that expires Jan. 1.

State filings show the governor and wife Diana Rauner donated another $9 million Thursday to the campaign fund of House Republican leader Jim Durkin of Western Springs. Durkin almost immediately transferred $5 million to the House Republican Organization, the campaign arm of the House GOP, and $3 million to the Illinois Republican Party.

The latest influx comes after Rauner’s campaign fund about a week earlier sent an additional $3 million to Durkin, to be funneled to individual Republican House campaigns.

Durkin’s campaign fund also benefited from a $3 million donation Friday from billionaire hedge-fund founder Ken Griffin, a Rauner ally.

All told, Rauner, his family and his campaign fund have doled out $45.8 million in political contributions this year. Of the $29 million the Illinois Republican Party has raised this year, nearly $21 million has come from Rauner and $4 million this month through Durkin’s campaign fund.

More : Chicago Tribune
_________________________________________________

***I don't care that much for Madigan, but I hate Rauner with a purple passion. He came in throwing his money all over the state just what I expected from Republican and won Governor. A lot of ministers sold us out in the city.