Harvey Mayor Eric Kellogg settled up with the state on Tuesday.
Kellogg cut the Illinois State Board of Elections, the government agency that regulates campaign activities, a check for $72,750.
That was how much Kellogg owed in civil penalties for failing to file mandatory campaign disclosure reports in recent years.
His cashier’s check arrived just in time.
If Kellogg hadn’t paid the fine by Thursday he wouldn’t have been able to run for re-election in April, ending his 12-year run as mayor of the south suburb.
Kellogg had tried to cut a deal with the elections board, offering to pay half the penalty in installments, but last week the Better Government Association reported that the elections board resoundingly rejected that offer.
“The state of Illinois is $72,750 richer,” says Sharon Steward, the elections board’s director of campaign disclosure. “They brought it in today and got it deposited.”
Kellogg had just under $4,000 in his campaign fund as of Dec. 31, records show.
If that figure is correct, he would’ve had to raise a lot of money in a short time, use personal savings to pay the fines or find some other way to stir up that kind of cash.
Kellogg spokesman Sean Howard declined to say where Kellogg got the money, though he implied campaign funds were used.
“By state law, we have five days to file paperwork with the State Board of Elections that will show how the money was raised,” Howard says. “The mayor is looking forward to the election, and this particular matter is now closed.”
Elections board officials confirmed that Kellogg’s political committee, Citizens to Elect Eric J. Kellogg, has five days to report any donation of $1,000 or more.
The elections board had fined Kellogg’s committee a total of $72,750.
That includes $55,900 for “delinquently” filing a dozen quarterly reports, from March 2011 to September 2013, plus $16,850 for other related violations.
This story was written and reported by the Better Government Association’s Andrew Schroedter, who can be reached at aschroedter@bettergov.org or (312) 821-9035.
