CHICAGO — The three leading Democrats in the March 17 U.S. Senate primary clashed Friday over how they finance their campaigns and proposed reforms to federal immigration enforcement operations as Congress debates a new funding bill for the Department of Homeland Security.

U.S. Reps. Robin Kelly and Raja Krishnamoorthi each called Lt. Gov. Juliana Stratton a hypocrite, arguing that while her campaign says it does not take money from corporate political action committees, independent PACs supporting her campaign do.

Stratton, the only candidate to call for abolishing the federal Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency over aggressive and controversial enforcement tactics, denied saying its duties could be handled by Customs and Border Protection — despite having told that to reporters after a Jan. 26 debate at the University of Chicago.

In all, the 70-minute debate, broadcast on WCPT-AM 820 and held at the Chicago Journeymen Plumbers Local Union 130 UA headquarters in the West Loop, featured some fiery exchanges between Krishnamoorthi and Stratton while Kelly also criticized the lieutenant governor and, without naming him, Stratton’s chief political benefactor, Democratic Gov. JB Pritzker.

Stratton, of Chicago, once again declared she was “the only candidate on this stage that refused to take one single dime of corporate PAC money in this campaign.”

That prompted Kelly, who is in her 13th year in Congress, to say to Stratton, “I find it very hypocritical to keep hearing this when you take $5 million from a corporate bigwig, you take $1 million from the corporate bigwig’s family.”

Kelly was referring to $5 million that Pritzker, a billionaire businessman and heir to the Hyatt Hotels fortune, and a $1 million donation from his cousin. Both contributions were pumped into the Illinois Future PAC, a political action committee run by Pritzker allies that supports Stratton. Kelly has feuded with Pritzker after he used his political leverage to depose her as state Democratic Party chair in exchange for a loyal ally in 2022.

“It’s the millionaires and billionaires that have really rigged this system and made it tough for the rest of us,” Kelly said. “So, if you’re saying you won’t take corporate PAC money, will you commit to not taking super PAC money that is fueled by corporate millionaires and billionaires?”

Krishnamoorthi told Stratton, “I think this hypocrisy has got to end. You have said that you don’t take corporate PAC money through the front door of your campaign. But it seems to be coming in through the side door, the rear door, the window and the garage.”

“Lt. Gov. Stratton says she has a people-powered campaign. It’s powered by like two people and that’s wrong,” the five-term congressman said.

“The congressman is not telling the truth, and everyone can see that for themselves,” Stratton responded.

While Stratton’s main campaign fund returned the only corporate PAC contribution it received to date, federal campaign finance records show a separate committee she set up a few months before launching her Senate bid, Level Up PAC, accepted contributions from corporate PACs and directly from corporations. In addition, Level Up PAC received $5,000 in contributions from PACs representing the banking and hotel industries, as previously reported by The Chicago Tribune.

Level Up also received $51,500 in contributions from corporate entities that are prohibited from giving directly to candidates for federal office. Among the corporate donors are two Springfield lobbying companies, Point of Difference LLC and Dan Shomon Inc., which gave $2,500 and $1,000, respectively.

The largest corporate contributor was PNS Management LLC, which gave $20,000. The Bensenville-based business services company is run by Niranjan Shah, a one-time major contributor to disgraced former Gov. Rod Blagojevich, who in 2009 resigned as University of Illinois board chair following an admissions scandal. Shah’s daughter, Smita Shah, is a finance committee vice chair for Stratton’s main campaign fund, Juliana for Illinois.

Stratton’s campaign and Level Up have previously said the lieutenant governor recused herself from the PAC after embarking on her Senate run and that the two don’t coordinate.

Federal campaign finance disclosures filed late last month show Level Up contributed $3,500 to Juliana for Illinois in September. The previous month, Level Up transferred $150,000 to Illinois Future PAC, which is currently funding pro-Stratton TV ads.

Stratton, trying to position herself as a Washington outsider to her rival U.S. House members, once again attacked Krishnamoorthi, a prolific fundraiser who has been airing TV ads since July, for accepting corporate PAC money.

She contended that Krishnamoorthi was the “largest recipient of health care industry money” in the U.S. House and that the donations have affected efforts to advance Medicare-for-all health care coverage.

Krishnamoorthi said after the debate that the high level of support he’s received from the health care industry was, at least in part, because of his relationships with medical professionals, including his wife and brother, who are doctors. But he said he is “an independent Democrat” who has stood up to pharmacy benefit managers, “who get in the way of providing greater access (to care) at lower prices to more Americans.”

At the debate, he defended his decision to accept PAC contributions.

“At the end of the day, I think the most important thing is that we stand up for our constituents and nobody can question either Robin or my integrity on this score,” Krishnamoorthi said.

Kelly also said she believed that the endorsements Stratton has received were in part because of Pritzker’s financial backing. In recent days, Stratton has received the backing of U.S. Sen. Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts and the Illinois Federation of Teachers.

“That’s why she’s endorsed. I clearly have more experience and have done the work,” Kelly said.

But Stratton defended Pritzker’s support.

“I am very proud of the support I have received, endorsement and support of Gov. JB Pritzker. And I can say that he has supported me in this race because we have worked side by side for the last seven years. He knows my work,” Stratton said.

The Illinois Future PAC ads promoting Stratton have focused on her call to “abolish ICE,” while Krishnamoorthi has called for abolishing “Trump’s ICE,” a position in line with Pritzker, and Kelly has called for dismantling the Department of Homeland Security, which oversees ICE and CBP.

Krishnamoorthi cited comments made by Stratton after their Jan. 26 debate in which the lieutenant governor pointed to Border Patrol in response to a reporter’s question about who would take on immigration enforcement responsibilities if ICE were eliminated.

“There is Border Patrol and … we, of course, need secure borders,” Stratton said at the time. Later that week, at a debate hosted by ABC-7, she sought to clarify her remarks, saying, “There should be security at the border,” and said other federal agencies, such as the Drug Enforcement Administration, could handle ICE’s duties related to drug smuggling investigations.

In Friday’s forum, Krishnamoorthi said transferring ICE’s duties to CBP would be “a horrible mistake” and noted the agency’s involvement in the fatal shooting of Alex Pretti in Minneapolis on Jan. 24.

“The congressman is lying about that,” Stratton replied. “I’ve never said transfer the duties. I have made it 100% clear we need to abolish ICE, period.”

With Congress facing a deadline on Friday, Feb. 13, to provide funding for Homeland Security, Krishnamoorthi said he would not support any additional money “unless significant changes are made,” including a ban on agents using face masks while displaying IDs and body cameras and prohibiting “roving gangs” of enforcement officers.

Kelly has sponsored legislation calling for the impeachment of Kristy Noem, the Homeland Security secretary, and appeared to make her removal a precondition for supporting any DHS funding and reform package.

But she told Stratton, “There’s no member of Congress that I know of … that thinks we don’t need border patrol and we don’t need enforcement. We do need that, but not like we have it now.”

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