Most of those who got also gave, records for 1993 show.

CHICAGO -- A review of campaign contributions made to Gov. Jim Edgar of Illinois in 1993 shows tens of thousands of dollars given by securities and law firms that were awarded state bonding business.

Eighteen of the 24 firms picked by the governor's office for two negotiated state bond deals sold last fall contributed money or sponsored a fund-raiser for Edgar. Those contributions totaled $106,000. Two law firms that were picked as bond counsel for state deals in fiscal 1994 and 1995 contributed a total of $31,500 to the campaign.

The selection of the firms was announced in late August 1993 by James Montana, Edgar's chief legal counsel and pointman for selection of underwriters, which included the issuance of requests for proposals.

Underwriters and bond counsel were paid a total of $2.3 million for a $169 million Illinois general obligation college-saver bond deal sold in October 1993, according to the state budget bureau. For a $331 million Build Illinois sales tax revenue bond deal sold last September, participating firms received a total of $2.4 million, the bureau said.

In a telephone interview on Friday, Montana said firms were picked for their expertise, location, or minority status, and not for contributions that were made.

"Their giving money had nothing to do with them having been picked," Montana said.

He said he was not aware of how much money any of the firms gave, despite the fact that his wife, Lori Spear Montana, is chief fund-raiser for the Edgar campaign.

"All the firms that were put in the deals were qualified firms," he said. The single biggest contributor was CS First Boston, which gave a total of $20,500 from its New York and Chicago offices between February and August of last year. While First Boston was only a co-manager in a $331 million Build Illinois sales tax revenue bond issue last September, the firm was selected last October as one of three rotating senior managers for Illinois Housing Development Authority deals over a two-year period. The other two firms are Goldman, Sachs & Co. and Bear, Stearns & Co.

Peter Dwars, the authority's former director, joined First Boston in June as a Chicago-based investment banker. Dwars said last fall that he ran the list of selected firms past Montana "to make sure no one was getting too much business."

The senior managers for a $169 million Illinois general obligation bond issue sold last October and for the Build Illinois bond deal both contributed. Prudential Securities, the senior manager for the GO deal, gave $12,500 in March 1993. The senior manager for the Build Illinois deal, Lehman Brothers, gave $5,500 between April and June in conjunction with one of its executives.

First Chicago Capital Markets, the co-senior manager for the GO issue, gave a total of $8,500 to Edgar's campaign from April through December of 1993 by First Chicago Corp. State Political Action Committee. First Chicago officials said contributions made by the PAC are not done for nor are influenced by executives from the capital markets unit.

Chicago-based Rodman & Renshaw Inc., which contributed $5,000 between May and September of 1993, was removed from the GO deal after Edgar Administration officials learned that sexual harassment complaints had been filed against the firm Rodman was replaced by LaSalle National Capital Markets, which did not make any contributions. Rodman, however, was named last October as a second-tier co-manager for state housing authority deals.

Chemical Securities, a co-manager in the Build Illinois deal, was the only securities firm to pay for a fund-raiser for Edgar last year. In February and March of 1993, the firm spent $4,473 for the event.

Chapman & Cutler, which has had a lock on bond counsel work for the state for 20 years and was picked a year ago to continue that role until the end of fiscal 1995, spent $7,295.87 on a fund-raiser for Edgar in mid-August 1993. Individual lawyers at the firm made contributions totaling $6,750. In June of this year, 13 Chapman attorneys made individual donations of $200 or $250, for a total of $3,100,

David Williams, a partner at the firm, acknowledged that a fund-raiser had been held for the governor. He said the contributions by attorneys were done privately by those individuals.

Mayer Brown & Platt, which was chosen as bond counsel for Build Illinois sales

tax revenue bond issues, gave a total of $16,000 to Edgar from March 26 through July 15, 1993. Julian D'Esposito, a partner at the firm, contributed another $1,500 in January of that year. In 1994, the firm gave nearly $14,100, including the costs of refreshments for a fund-raiser, and D'Esposito gave another $1,500.

D'Esposito said all the contributions were made by "friends and supporters" of the governor and were not to obtain state bond business.

Several securities, financial advisory, and law firms that were not picked for Illinois deals so far also contributed thousands of dollars to the Edgar campaign in 1993.

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