While going through Brad Harriman's campaign disclosure forms ("D-2s" in Illinois political junky parlance), I found a contribution from Freeburg High School District 77 for $400 dated October 3, 2010.
Using public funds for political contributions is against the law. This is pretty basic.
Harriman's campaign treasurer was Annabelle Gillespie of Belleville. Guess where Gillespie works? She works (or did work) at the Regional Office of Education.
Doesn't it seem like something should have registered as a problem when Gillespie was entering the information on the D-2? She works at the Regional Office of Education, right? If it were legal to solicit campaign contributions from school districts, why not just tell every school district in St. Clair County to send Harriman's campaign $5,000?
This kind of gaffe shows Harriman to be a weak leader on two fronts. One, Harriman ought to proof read his financial disclosure statements before they are submitted. It's just a few pages. If Harriman can't spot an illegal campaign contribution in a 13-page report (only three or four pages are the contributions), has Harriman got what it takes to be reading the federal budget with a critical eye?
Secondly, Harriman does pick good people. Virtually everyone has areas where their skills are not strong. The way effective leaders deal with this is to hire people who compensate for their own weaknesses.
Harriman seems unable to do this.
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