>>1487230Several of the donations were given to the candidates on the same day, by the same donors, for the same amounts.
“This coordinated effort by Trump and AIPAC donors to buy multiple congressional seats in Illinois should be alarming to anyone who cares about the integrity of our democracy,” said Matthew Fisch, campaign manager for Robert Peters, who is running against Miller in IL-02.
ALL THREE OF AIPAC DONORS’ Illinois candidates are benefiting from new pop-up super PACs with anodyne-sounding names. Affordable Chicago Now! is supporting Miller, and Elect Chicago Women is supporting Fine and Bean.
The super PACs, whose donors are currently secret, were both organized in January and began rolling out television ads in the last week. The spots (here’s Fine’s, here’s Miller’s, and here’s Bean’s) are generic positive biographical ads. The total ad buys appear to be in the millions of dollars. Illinois primaries will be held March 17, and the names of the funders of the super PACs will not have to be released until near or even after that date.
The ads do not mention support for Israel. Neither AIPAC, UDP, nor indirectly associated PAC Democratic Majority for Israel (DMFI), which often supports the same candidates, have endorsed or spent money in these three races. But Jewish Insider and several others have reported that AIPAC appears to be behind the pop-up super PACs. AIPAC, United Democracy Project, and the two shell PACs did not return requests for comment.
