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Maybe people have figured out it's possible to buy a public office, or maybe the cost of public service is going up like the price of bread and gas. It could be that lots of people have decided they'd really like to spend their extra thousands on campaign mailings, or perhaps they've just realized their biggest fans are themselves. Whatever the cause, this year's local primaries have inspired a bunch of citizens to dip into their own bank accounts to finance election campaigns--and not just for sexy offices like recorder of deeds.
Here's a list of some of the top recipients of campaign contributions from themselves. (It includes donations and loans given since July 2007 in their own names, the names of their companies or firms, or the names of close family members like parents and spouses. And it's probable that it's not complete--so look at these numbers as "at least" totals.)
| Anita Alvarez | State's attorney | $640,000.00 |
| James A. Shapiro | Circuit court judge | $359,000.00 |
| Jay Paul Deratany | Board of Review | $350,000.00 |
| Mariyana Spyropoulos | Water reclamation district commissioner | $268,359.00 |
| Dean Maragos | Water reclamation district commissioner | $186,937.00 |
| Robert Milan | State's attorney | $150,000.00 |
| Larry Suffredin | State's attorney | $120,000.00 |
| Jonathan Bedi | State senate, 5th District | $105,000.00 |
| Ed Smith | Recorder of deeds | $100,000.00 |
| James Byrne | Circuit court judge | $ 65,000.00 |
| Gideon Baum | Circuit court judge | $ 50,700.62 |
| Kenny Johnson | State house, 26th District | $ 50,000.00 |
| Eugene Moore | Recorder of deeds | $ 43,800.00 |
| Rosaire Marie Hall | Circuit court judge | $ 33,265.00 |
| Sandi Jackson | Democratic committeeman, 7th Ward | $ 25,000.00 |
| Heather Steans | State senate, 7th District | $ 25,000.00 |
| Derrick David Stinson | Water reclamation district commissioner | $ 22,655.00 |
| Tommy Brewer | State's attorney | $ 20,000.00 |
| Frank Avila | Water reclamation district commissioner | $ 12,655.00 |
| Paul Chadha | State house, 26th District | $ 10,000.00 |
| John O. Steele | Appellate judge | $ 10,000.00 |
| AmySue Mertens | State senate, 5th District.
| $ 6,080.41 |
| Phillip Jackson | State house, 26th District | $ 5,330.00 |
| Rich Bradley | State senate, 20th District | $ 5,000.00 |
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