Brady campaign reports low funds, high hopes

SPRINGFIELD— State Sen. Bill Brady, one of four Republican candidates for governor, drew in $74,000 during the last three months of 2013, his campaign revealed Wednesday.

Brady, the second Republican gubernatorial candidate to file his quarterly campaign disclosure by Wednesday’s filing deadline, reported $271,214 in his arsenal at year’s end via his two political campaign funds, Brady for Senate and Brady for Illinois.

That’s one-fifth of what Treasurer Dan Rutherford, a rival for governor, reported Tuesday in his reserves as of the end of December and even less than private equity investor Bruce Rauner, who put $2.24 million of his own money into his campaign as of January. Rauner still had not filed his quarterly report as of 8 p.m. Wednesday.

“We have been outraised throughout this campaign, yet look at the polls—we’re still on top,” Brady spokesperson Dan Egler said. “We’ve consistently been first or second, depending on the poll, because of our residual name recognition, solid base of informed voters that know Bill and the fact that we’re running a campaign that doesn’t spend money it doesn’t have.”

The highest individual contribution to the Bloomington Republican’s campaign came from Tri-Star Marketing Inc., a Chenoa-based firm representing international manufacturers, which gave $10,500. Its owner, Jon Stewart, also contributed $5,300.