Lake County Gazette

Lake Forest mayoral candidate Prue Beidler’s campaign donations to Democrats both nationally and locally total $1,026,925.20. 

Among those campaign donations were those to Kim Foxx. Beidler is known as a philanthropist with deep ties to the state’s Democrat machine. 

“Prue Beidler has volunteered and served on the board of directors for non-profit organizations in both Chicago and her hometown of Lake Forest for over 40 years. She began her career as a Chicago Public School teacher after receiving a Bachelor of Arts from Wellesley College and a Master of Studies in Education from the University of Chicago. Most recently, she served six years as alderman in Lake Forest,” Beidler’s bio on the Mies van der Rohe Society website reads.

Beidler has been a repeated donor to Foxx providing three donations to the Cook County State’s Attorney in 2015, two in 2016, two in 2017, one in 2018, and three in 2020. Her donation to Foxx was the only donation the embattled state’s attorney received from a Lake County resident.

She also previously donated to Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot - who lost her bid for a second term. Beidler’s donation to Lightfoot was one of only 12 from Lake County residents, Lake County Gazette reported. 

Beidler was also a healthy donor to former Attorney General Lisa Madigan - the daughter of disgraced former House Speaker Michael Madigan who is soon to undergo a criminal trial for his alleged role in bribery schemes with ComEd and AT&T. The younger Madigan’s campaign was heavily influenced by her father’s connections. Lisa Madigan has been receiving donations from Beidlger since 2002. 

Others who benefitted from Beidler’s largesse include former governor Rod Blagojevich. Blagojevich is a Democrat, who was imprisoned after being caught scheming to sell off Barack Obama’s former U.S. Senate seat, The New York Times reported. He was arrested in 2008, according to NPR.