Donors say the usual campaign contribution flap was just “gossip” and he didn’t know that Chris Cooss was his cousin

Every election has a winner and a loser.

So, on Wednesday when Greg Shepherd called the WGLT Reporter, we asked him how he was doing.

“I could be better,” he said. “I was hoping that another mayor would be elected.”

He was talking about the usual mayoral election in which Chris Kooss was re-elected in the sixth term. Shepherd wanted to beat challenger Kathleen Lorenz. She shortened about 470 votes. Councillor Chinmarie Harris finished third.

Shepherd played an unusual role in the race. Records show that the businessman and his wife, Heather, contributed a $29,200 campaign to McLean County Republicans. A few weeks later, Republicans gave Lorenz’s mayoral campaign $28,000. This is money from unnamed donors who want to focus it through groups like GOP. Such a pass-through move would circumvent campaign finance laws, limit how much one person is given, and require that everyone disclose what they have done.

In this case, one particular part of Illinois’ election law “may be problematic,” stated an official from the state Election Commission. It prohibits people from making or receiving campaign contributions in the name of someone else. Another campaign expert said the state election commission should demand Lorenz to pay the money back. No complaints were filed with the state Election Commission late Tuesday.

Lorentz defends the campaign, claiming, “It’s all done with the highest level of integrity and transparency that people know about donations!”

When she called WGLT on Wednesday, Shepherd said she wasn’t ready to talk about the $29,200 donation. WGLT asked why he routes Lorenz’s contributions from his local GOP.

“Yeah, for the sake of Chrysalmon, do you think I’m going to go into one of them?” Shepherd said. He later hung up the WGLT reporter.

One of the quirks of this already eccentric story is that Shepherd is Koos’ cousin. In other words, he was funding a campaign to vote for one of his relatives. Shepherd’s grandfather and Coos’ grandfather were brothers, Coos said.

Shepherd said he didn’t know they were related until the WGLT stories were released. He thanked WGLT for making it aware of it.

“I don’t really understand Chris,” he said.

Lorenz told WGLT that she coordinated with an unknown donor and routed money through McLean County Republicans at the donor’s request. Lorenz said “silly amounts” are important to paying for three weeks of ads during the campaign’s home stretch. She said the ads gave her a better opportunity to beat the incumbent she preferred.

Lorenz did not identify the donor, but confirmed that the $28,000 he received from the McLean County Republican last week came from him. The election application strongly suggests that it was Shepherd.

Individuals usually close at $7,300 with contributions to candidate campaign committees like Lorenz, based on state contribution restrictions. However, individuals can give large sums of money to party committees like the McLean County Republican Party, and there is no limit to how many party committees they can give to the Candidate Campaign Committee.

It is still unclear why Shepherd wants to support Lorenz’s campaign. Lorenz will say that she and the donors simply say, “I have a shared vision, that was (time for new leadership).

In his contribution disclosure, Shepherd listed his address, like Lakewood Ranch, Florida, but he also lived in Bloomington. Records show Shepherd lists his profession as a self-employed or businessman in the insurance industry. Shepherd has made more than $1,000 in donations to local candidates who have allied with other Republicans in recent years, including Bloomington Mayor and former state Rep. Dan Brady, Ordinary Town Council member Scott Preston and former MacLean County board member Chuck Erickson.

When Shepherd called WGLT, we asked why he poured money through the local GOP. He didn’t answer directly. Landowner Shepherd instead began talking about the Bloomington Normal family who owned the town’s land for generations and wanted to see it develop into something. It was unclear how the two topics of contribution and land development relate to.

“Now, it’s a story,” Shepherd said. “An election involving donors is not a story. It’s gossip.”