A new disclosure filed by the McLean County Republican Party failed to report the transfer of $28,000 to former Normal mayoral candidate Kathleen Lorenz – the same money that sparked a complaint against her with the State Board of Elections.
Committees like the local GOP were required to file their quarterly reports (covering revenue and spending in January, February and March) by April 15. The local GOP’s quarterly report, filed Friday (three days late), omits the $28,000 transfer out to Lorenz’s campaign. Lorenz’s quarterly report, filed April 15, properly shows the transfer in.
McLean County GOP chair Dennis Grundler called it a "straightforward clerical error" that was "due to a brand-new volunteer treasurer using the online system for the first time."
"Inadvertent omissions were made and an amendment to that report will soon be filed," Grundler said Monday.
Lorenz has defended her campaign, arguing that “everything has been done with the highest level of integrity and transparency which is why people know about the donation!”
Meanwhile, a preliminary hearing is scheduled for April 30 for the complaint filed against Lorenz related to the money, a State Board of Elections spokesperson said. It’s closed to the public.
After that, the hearing officer will write a report and recommendation that is forwarded to the board’s general counsel. She then reviews it and makes a recommendation to the full board, which hears the case in executive session at a monthly board meeting [probably June] and issues its decision.
The complaint alleges that Lorenz and her campaign violated two specific provisions of state election law. One prohibits the giving or receiving of a campaign contribution in someone else’s name. The other limits how much an individual person can donate to a candidate — typically $7,300.
The complaint is based largely on Lorenz’s own words, including an interview with WGLT just three days before the April 1 election. Lorenz came up about 470 votes short. Chris Koos won his sixth term. The complaint was filed by Ben Matthews, who worked on Koos’ campaign.
Lorenz told WGLT the $28,000 she received from the McLean County Republicans was actually pass-through money from a single donor who wanted to support her campaign. Lorenz said she coordinated with the donor to route the money through the Republicans — at the donor’s request. She said she needed the money to fund campaign advertising in the final weeks of the campaign.
She would not identify the donor, though records suggest the donor is Greg Shepard, a businessman and landowner who is Koos’ cousin. Shepard and his wife donated $29,200 to the McLean County Republicans a few weeks before the GOP sent $28,000 to Lorenz’s campaign. That amount ($28,000) is more than the Shepards would’ve been allowed to donate to Lorenz’s campaign directly, had they done so, because of campaign contribution limits.
If the State Board of Elections determines there was a violation, a penalty might be requiring the candidate to give the money back — the “overage” that would have exceeded the individual contribution limit.
As for the local GOP’s quarterly report, the party will be notified that it needs to file an amended report but that won’t happen until after the complaint is dealt with, the State Board of Elections official said. It’s possible they’ll fix it in the course of the complaint process, he said.
