Why Are Paul Vallas’ Finances So Shady

Paul Vallas’ run for mayor of Chicago has been eventful, to say the least. His campaign has been riddled with controversy concerning his political leanings and past statements. However, this may all just be a front to cover up a bigger story. His monthly financial statements show he was $500,000 in debt before the campaign. If one were to look even deeper one would see that Vallas has profited a little over $1 million in campaign funds that he hasn’t used. All of this is legal, but it’s a bad look for him. It seems as though his intentions in running for mayor need to be analyzed further. Of course, no one other than Vallas could know his true intentions. Though, at the same time this information paints a darker picture of the already confusing painting that is Paul Vallas.

Vallas’ 2019 Campaign

When Paul Vallas ran for mayor in 2019, he came dead last in the polling and in the actual election. Even though he came last, he ended up getting sued by two Chicagoans for breaching the Telephone Consumer Protection Act. This was because he and one of the campaign services he used called Link2Tek, had sent out unsolicited text messages to people in the Chicagoland Area who had never opted into receiving campaign texts from Vallas. This led to the suit Klueh v. Paul Vallas for All Chicago. In court documents that can be found online, Link2Tek filed to have the claims dismissed, to which the motion was denied by Judge Pacold, of the Illinois District Court. 

To understand why Vallas’ campaign expenditures are strange, one first has to know about campaign disclosures. Each candidate has to publicly disclose exactly how much money they are getting and who is giving them what. When all of this information is compiled quarterly, it is called a D-2 statement. A D-2 statement is a tax document that people campaigning need to fill out each quarter to publicly state who loaned or donated money, what they are spending their money on, and who they owe money to.

What makes Vallas’ D-2 statements interesting is that in his last D-2 statement of his 2019 election, he reported having been in debt to Link2Tek for $535,357. Coming in dead last in that year’s mayoral election, his D-2 statement put his campaign funds in a negative balance. Coupled with the $19,000 that he owed his brother and then-treasurer Dean Vallas, we see that his financial mess keeps piling higher and higher.

Vallas’ 2023 Campaign

Jumping back to the 2023 Chicago Mayoral election. Paul Vallas is running as a Democrat, a moderate one at that. He wants the city to know that he will be tough on crime, create good public schools, and end a string of bad politics and corruption within the city. The man who got votes from almost exclusively the North Side of the city says the city needs more police, proven by his supporters from the Fraternal Order of the Police. 

Right Leaning Donors

Vallas has a slew of interesting supporters and donors. In the first quarter of his campaign, he was given $500,000 from Michael Keiser. He is the prominent CEO of Bandon Dunes Golf Course Resort, and a prominent GOP donor. Now while one republican donor may not be enough to say that somebody’s campaign is funded by republicans. Let’s go further. 

His second biggest campaign donor is James N. Perry Jr., who donated $450,000. He is from the private equity firm Madison Dearborn Partners and actually attended an event with Vallas and Republican Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos at a reception for the Catholic Schools of Chicago in 2021. 

One cannot say for certain which party Vallas truly lies with, but people can follow the money. With outwardly right-leaning candidates such as Willie Wilson in the primary, why give to Vallas? What good would it do a GOP donor to give money to Vallas? What would it give to them? That itself is the ultimate question. 

Questions with no Answers

Interestingly as well, on March 2 he donated $100,100  to himself. As seen on a disclosure letter posted to the Illinois Election Disclosure website, the address of the donation came from his campaign headquarters in Bronzeville. As someone who may have been in debt a mere four years ago, it would be interesting to see where Vallas got so much money in his personal accounts to donate that much. 

The question of Vallas’ finances has not been a part of his controversies, yet maybe it could be. If one wants to see where their candidates’ loyalties lie: follow the money. 

Opinion by Caroline Buehler and Kenneth Mazerat

Sources

Politico: Californians plug $10M into Illinois GOP governor’s race by Shia Kapos

ElectionsIlGov: Illinois State Board of Elections Campaign Disclosures

Ballotpedia: Chicago Mayoral Campaign Finances

Featured and Top by Christopher Dilts for Quinn for Illinois Image Courtesy of QuinnforIllinois Flickr Page

First Inset Image Courtesy of Caroline Buehler