Madison - The three Republican and Democratic candidates for governor next year have accepted nearly $23,000 since 2003 from Illinois contributors who have been convicted or indicted of extortion, fraud, bribery or other crimes, or who are connected to state and federal criminal investigations, the Wisconsin Democracy Campaign has found.

Some of the reputations of the 10 Illinois power brokers have even prompted politicians there to return campaign contributions from those donors.

Republican candidate Mark Green has been criticized for keeping several contributions totaling $28,845 since 1998 from political committees controlled by former Republican House Majority Leader Tom DeLay, who was indicted on criminal conspiracy and money laundering charges involving the 2002 Texas legislative elections.

DeLay’s legal troubles and his ties to Green have been well publicized. WDC investigated and found legal controversies surrounding several lesser-known Illinois contributors to Green and the other candidates, Republican Scott Walker and Democratic Governor Jim Doyle. Here is a profile of the charges, investigations or controversies that surround them, and the amount of campaign contributions they have invested in the three candidates for governor:

• Stuart Levine, a prominent Chicago attorney and former member of the Illinois Health Facilities Planning Board and former trustee of the Illinois Teachers’ Retirement System, gave Green $4,000 and Walker $3,000 in 2003. His wife, Sheri, contributed another $2,000 to each candidate. Levine, widely known in Illinois for giving millions in contributions to mostly Republican candidates, was charged this year with 28 felonies accusing him of denying construction permits to hospitals that refused to hire politically connected contractors and financiers from whom he would receive kickbacks. In a separate case he also was charged with 13 counts of wire and mail fraud, soliciting a bribe and extortion for seeking hundreds of thousands of dollars in kickbacks from investment firms seeking to do business with the teachers’ pension fund.

• Nicholas Hurtgen, of Glencoe, a former aide to Republican Governor Tommy Thompson and former senior manager of Bear Stearns & Company’s Chicago office gave $4,013 to Green in 2003. His wife, Catherine, gave Green another $4,000 that year. Hurtgen, who has been indicted on seven charges of mail and wire fraud and extortion, is accused of conspiring with Levine to force an Illinois hospital to hire a particular contractor in order to get state approval for their project. Federal authorities say Hurtgen participated in the scheme to get Bear Stearns the financing deal for the project. Hurtgen also has ties to Walker who hired Bear Stearns to underwrite a $100 million Milwaukee County bond deal, and to Doyle for whom Hurtgen helped organize an October 2002 Chicago fundraiser reportedly attended by a host of gambling interests.

• Patrick Ryan, of Winnetka, founder and chairman of Aon Corporation, the world’s second largest insurance broker, contributed $2,000 to Walker in 2003. Last March, Aon agreed to repay customers $190 million to settle a federal complaint that accused Ryan and the company of cheating customers by steering them to certain insurers in return for kickbacks and the insurers’ promises to use Aon for its own coverage or reinsurance needs.

• Joseph Cari, a prominent Chicago attorney and former finance chairman for the Democratic National Committee, contributed $314.55 to Green in 2003. Cari pleaded guilty in September to attempted extortion in a kickback scheme with Levine in 2004 that funneled Teachers’ Retirement System business to select people and companies.

• Dean Buntrock, of Oakbrook Terrace, founder and former chairman of Waste Management, contributed $1,500 to Doyle in 2003. Buntrock and other company executives settled a Securities and Exchange Commission complaint in August that accused them of “massive financial fraud” from 1992 to 1997 for lying about the company’s financial condition and overstating profits by $1.7 billion. The settlement required Buntrock to pay $19.45 million in penalties and other payments.

• Bob Kjellander, a Springfield lobbyist and treasurer of the Republican National Committee, contributed $1,000 to Walker in 2003. Kjellander is under scrutiny by federal investigators for his role in helping a Washington-based investment firm land a $500 million contract with the Teachers’ Retirement System. The firm, Carlyle Group, is reportedly paying Kjellander between $2.8 million and $4.5 million, and federal prosecutors have subpoenaed records concerning Kjellander’s fees. Kjellander drew public attention in 2004 when it was revealed Bear Stearns & Company paid Kjellander $809,000 to lobby the state for a $10 billion bond deal. It was later reported that Bear Stearns, which earned $8 million for handling the deal, paid Kjellander even though there was no record he did any work to help the company get the bond deal. No charges have been filed against Kjellander, his company or Carlyle.

• Alexander Lerner, of Glencoe, head of the Illinois State Medical Society, contributed $1,000 to Walker at a January 2003 fundraiser in Illinois. Lerner cooperated with a federal corruption investigation involving alleged bribes for contracts taken by Donald Udstuen. Lerner was not charged but he admitted accepting some of the bribery money paid to Udstuen. Udstuen, a lobbyist and close adviser to former Governor George Ryan, pleaded guilty to a tax charge in connection with the bribes he received in the Ryan corruption scandal. Ryan is now on trial in a 22-county federal indictment for racketeering, fraud and other corruption allegations.

• John Burgess, of Buffalo Grove, chief executive officer of International Profit Associates, a telemarketer that sells business management consulting services, contributed $5,000 to Doyle in 2005. Burgess lost his law license after an attempted grand larceny conviction in the 1980s. Burgess’ company was sued in 1999 by the state attorney general on behalf of former employees who claimed they had not been reimbursed for expenses or paid commissions. The suit was settled and the claims were submitted to arbitration. He contributed $50,000 in 2002 to Democrat Rod Blagojevich’s successful run for Illinois governor, but Blagojevich returned the money after reporters questioned Burgess’ past.

• Michael Ficaro, of Oak Lawn, gave $123.74 to Green’s campaign in 2003. Ficaro was among eight members of the Ungaretti & Harris law firm, including Joseph Cari, whose contributions to Green totaled $2,233.91 on September 24, 2003. The figure probably represents in-kind contributions, rather than more common cash contributions, to pay for the costs of a fundraiser the lawyers held for Green. Ficaro is suing a law firm that accused him of having ties to organized crime in court documents filed in a town of Rosemont casino bankruptcy case. Illinois Attorney General Lisa Madigan has accused some of the failed Emerald Casino project’s investors, who Ficaro represented in licensing proceedings before state gambling regulators in 2002, of mob ties.

• John Glennon, of Lake Forest, owner of North American Capital Corporation and a former adviser to Governor George Ryan, gave $1,000 to Walker in 2003. Glennon has been charged in the Levine-Hurtgen embezzlement and fraud scheme with criminal conspiracy for concealing kickbacks in the financing and construction of two Illinois hospitals and lying to federal authorities.

In addition to Blagojevich, at least one other Illinois politician has returned a contribution from one of these donors. GOP House Representative Ray LaHood said he returned a $1,000 contribution he received from Levine in 2000 because he has a policy of returning money to contributors if they are indicted.

Illinois contributors who gave $100 or more Green, Walker and Doyle since 2003 can be found below.