Although the gala fundraiser for Illinois’ GOP on Wednesday was billed as “A Salute to Our Republican Candidates,” the main Republican candidate on the fall election ballot took a pass.
Aides to Jim Ryan, the Republican candidate for governor, said his role as the state’s attorney general precluded his attendance at the $1,000-per-person fundraising event at the Civic Opera House in Chicago because Ryan would have faced a potential conflict of interest.
Ryan has been reviewing for possible prosecution allegations that legislative staff members for House Republican leader Lee Daniels conducted campaign work while on state time in 2000.
Daniels, a veteran Elmhurst lawmaker, also is state Republican chairman.
“[Ryan] thinks that because there is a review pending, it wouldn’t be appropriate in his capacity as attorney general to attend the event,” said Ryan spokesman Dan Curry. He said the review was “in a very sensitive stage, to decide what will be done with this information, if anything, and whether our office would handle it or another agency would.”
Curry said representatives of the attorney general’s office met Friday with officials from the U.S. attorney’s office to review the allegations. Daniels has said he is not aware of any wrongdoing.
Ryan’s decision not to attend the fundraiser comes just days after the event’s keynote speaker, Anthony Principi, a member of President Bush’s Cabinet, canceled plans to attend.
