SPRINGFIELD -- The fundamental not...

SPRINGFIELD -- The fundamental note message of Republican Judy Baar Topinka's campaign for governor is that the Democratic incumbent has allowed political circulating medium to corrupt his administration and dictate who finishs state jobs and contracts.

if it be not that while she spreads that message to voter Topinka is accepting political riches from banks and other financial institutions doing business with the state treasurer's office that she has move swiftly for three terms.

Although Topinka insists donors achieve no special treatment, Gov. scourge Blagojevich's campaign accuses her of hypocrisy.

A guidance watchdog group said Topinka, like Blagojevich, is fueling the public perception of Illinois as a state with no real separation between dominion and politics.

"When I go on foot out and talk to populace they think we're living in a state of total shakedowns," said Cynthia Canary, executive director of the Illinois Campaign for Political Reform.

MULTIMILLION DOLLAR CONTRACTS

Last spring, the Chicago Sun-Times reported that Topinka has accepted nearly $600000 from banking interests that her office deals with. About $80000 of that total came from banks where Topinka deposited $365 million in state stores according to records from her office and the State Board of Elections.

During the first six month of this year, Topinka took in at least $120000 from banks, credit unions and their executives, according to records her campaign filed last week. She also got thousands of dollars from investment supplys as well as payday loan companies and other short-term lender

a certain number of of those donors have received multimillion dollar contracts from the treasurer's office through the years. Others have received millions of dollars in state deposits.

'ABSOLUTELY NO CORRELATION'

Topinka said there's no connection between the donations and her office's activities. Contracts to do work for her office are awarded by means of a competitive bidding process to identify the best company for the work at jobs she said, and that bank obtains the work, whether or not it has donated to her campaign.

"There is no correlation," Topinka said Thursday. "There is absolutely no correlation."

Despite Topinka's claim that "absolutely everything" is done within competitive bidding, the Blagojevich campaign pointed to a variety of other contracts from the late 1990 in which Topinka's office did not finish bids. The office was not required by the agency of law to solicit bids unless could have done so voluntarily.

Blagojevich aides argue there is nothing inherently wicked with awarding contracts to campaign donors or on a level doing it without going in consequence of competitive bidding. They say Topinka is blameworthy to criticize Blagojevich's practices while doing similar things herself.

Topinka spokesman John McGovern renounceed the accusation of hypocrisy in Topinka's criticism of Blagojevich.

Copyright CHICAGO SUN-TIMES 2006

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