The Boeing Company’s troubles — in the air, in the courts and with the federal government — haven’t kept three of Illinois’ four top legislative leaders and other state politicians from accepting campaign money from its political arm in 2024, records show.
The company’s political action committee has given a total of $22,000 this year to those legislators, other state and local politicians, and the two major political parties, all during the past month.
Among the recipients: Illinois Senate President Don Harmon, D-Oak Park, whose campaign fund received $1,000 from Boeing in July, according to the Illinois State Board of Elections, and who has taken a total of $9,000 from Boeing since 2020.
Illinois House Speaker Emanuel “Chris” Welch, D-Hillside, and Illinois Senate Minority Leader John Curran, R-Downers Grove, also took $1,000 each in July from Boeing, records show.
In all, Illinois state and local political figures and funds have accepted more than $90,000 from Boeing since the federal government accused it of fraud in 2021, records show.
Asked about taking money from Boeing, a Harmon campaign spokesman says: “Since his first days in office and throughout his time as Senate president, Don Harmon has always prioritized consumer safety. Nothing will ever compromise his position on keeping the people of Illinois safe.”
Neither Welch nor Curran could be reached.
A Boeing spokeswoman declined to discuss the campaign contributions.
Among other Illinois political figures and groups to have recently taken campaign money from Boeing:
- Illinois House Minority Leader Tony McCombie, a Republican from western Illinois, got $1,000 in November.
- The Illinois Democratic Party took $7,000 in July, and the Illinois Republican Party accepted $7,000 in early August.
- State Sen. Christopher Belt, a downstate Democrat whose district includes an airport where Gov. JB Pritzker and Boeing announced in 2021 that the company would open a factory to build military drones, got $1,000 Aug. 7.
The Boeing spokeswoman says of that project: “Progress continues on the new MQ-25 facility at MidAmerica St. Louis Airport, where production of the un-crewed aerial refueler is expected to begin early next year.”
Records also show members of Congress from Illinois have accepted at least $13,000 in campaign contributions this year from Boeing — with Democrats Mike Quigley and Nikki Budzinkski and Republican Darin LaHood each getting $3,000.
The company has given more than $1 million to members of Congress from Illinois and candidates for congressional office representing the state since 1990, according to an analysis by the nonprofit watchdog group OpenSecrets.
Since Boeing moved its corporate offices to Chicago in 2001, the company and its affiliates have made more than $360,000 in campaign contributions to state and local political groups, according to records that also show Boeing employees have given nearly $125,000 over the years. The company announced in mid-2022 it was moving its headquarters to Arlington, Va.
Among the aerospace company’s recent safety and legal troubles, a door panel blew off a Boeing 737 MAX in mid-air in January after departing Portland, Oregon. The panel had been missing bolts, investigators say, though there hasn’t been a final determination of the cause of the harrowing incident.
BOEING PLEA DEAL, VICTIMS’ REPLY
Not long after, the Justice Department accused Boeing of violating a 2021 legal agreement that had shielded the company from prosecution for hiding design flaws that led to deadly 737 MAX crashes overseas.
Under a recent plea deal involving a felony fraud charge, Boeing has agreed to accept more fines and oversight. That agreement, which hasn’t been approved yet by a federal judge, has been criticized by families of the crash victims as “another sweetheart deal” for the company. The proposed deal doesn’t directly link a 2018 crash in Indonesia or a 2019 crash in Ethiopia that, between them, caused 346 deaths due to Boeing’s deception, though the judge has done so.