Vallas for Mayor slapped with $10,500 penalty, breaking finance laws

TLDR:

• The mayoral campaign of Paul Vallas has been fined $10,500 for violating campaign finance rules in Chicago.
• The fine was issued by the Chicago Board of Ethics following a unanimous 4-0 vote.

Paul Vallas’ mayoral campaign has been fined $10,500 for violating the city’s campaign finance rules. The fine was issued by the Chicago Board of Ethics following a unanimous 4-0 vote. The violation occurred when an entity engaged in business with the city made a $5,000 political contribution to “Vallas for Mayor,” exceeding the Ordinance’s $1,500 limit for political contributions to candidates for elected city office. The Board stated that if the contributor and the committee had refunded the excess amount within 10 days of receiving a notice of probable cause, the matter would have been dismissed. However, since no response was received from “Vallas for Mayor,” the committee was fined three times the amount of the excess contribution. Paul Vallas lost to Brandon Johnson in the 2023 runoff election for Chicago Mayor.