SPRINGFIELD - Control of the General Assembly means controlling the legislative agenda in Illinois.

It can give one party the votes and leverage to raise the minimum wage or enact medical malpractice reform. It can give one party the ability to block the other party from moving forward with a plan to rebuild schools and highways.

And, it can give one party a seat at the table when taxpayer dollars are being divvied up for projects, programs and pork-barrel spending.

That is largely why the four legislative leaders in Illinois spend so much money convincing voters to back their candidates.

That was the case during the 2006 election, when more than $8 million was funneled from the campaign war chests of the leaders into 10 select races for the state House and Senate.

Observers say the amount of money dumped by the leadership into those battles raises concerns about the independence of locally elected representatives.

"When someone is elected after having a legislative leader drop 65 to 75 percent of the funds into that race, there is an indebtedness. It is much harder for a candidate in that position to buck the wishes of the leader," said Cindi Canary, director of the Illinois Campaign for Political Reform.

The matchups that saw the profligate spending are known in political parlance as "targeted races."

They ranged from a battle centered in Decatur between an incumbent Democrat and a local restaurateur that topped the $1 million mark to a nearly $2 million race for an open Senate seat to represent an area that includes Champaign, Urbana and Danville.

In each of the targeted races, the candidate who spent more money won the race. The average cost per vote in House races was more than $45. That compares to the $5 to $10 per vote cost paid by the two candidates for governor.

Though expensive, it was money well spent for Democrats: When lawmakers are sworn in on Wednesday, Democrats will hold a veto-proof majority in the Senate and a 66-52 majority in the House.

Front-seat view

For local voters, the money that floods into targeted races every two years affords them a rare, front-seat view of the rough and tumble world of Illinois politics. The money buys copious amounts of television advertisements, untold numbers of direct mail pieces and the ability to send campaign workers into the field to convince citizens who to vote for.

Whether they were aware of it or not, voters in five House districts got a close-up look during the 2006 election at just how the system works.

Take the race in the 101st House District.

There, state Rep. Bob Flider, D-Mount Zion, was targeted for defeat by House Minority Leader Tom Cross, an Oswego Republican.

The GOP enlisted Decatur restaurateur Dick Cain to unseat Flider, who was finishing his first full term in the House after having been appointed in January 2003 to replace Julie Curry, who took a job with the administration of Gov. Rod Blagojevich.

The race quickly escalated into a battle of campaign dollars, most of which went toward television ads that became a popular point of conversation among viewers in their districts.

Flider, who received at least $388,293 from campaign accounts controlled by House Speaker Michael Madigan, ran ads touting his work ethic and his support of Illinois workers.

Republicans nearly matched Madigan's influx of dollars, pouring $331,579 into Cain's coffers. Behind the scenes, the cash paid for polling, campaign staff and office supplies. Voters were treated to accusations that Flider was a tool of the utility industry that has been pushing to raise electric rates.

Observers described the race as nasty. But the preliminary fund-raising totals speak volumes: Flider appears to have raised more money and he won.

Along with raising questions about the independence of leader-backed candidates, Canary said there is another problem when so much outside money flows into a district.

"The big issue is that it put these races in the hands of the legislative leaders, as opposed to putting it in the hands of constituents. So, the (campaign) decisions aren't even made by the candidates based on what the people in their districts want to hear," Canary said.

"It's a much more centralized approach to elections," she said. "It's a campaign that's being produced off site."

As proof of that, Democrats used the same television ad they ran against Cain in Decatur in a targeted race in the Quad Cities between incumbent state Rep. Mike Boland, D-East Moline, and Republican challenger Steven Haring.

The 30-second spot accused Haring of favoring the outsourcing of U.S. jobs.

Canary said that's not how Illinois elections are supposed to work.

"It kind of just switch the candidate's names," Canary said. "Legislative races are supposed to be about the concerns of a particular district. That becomes very distorted when hundreds and hundreds of thousands of dollars are brought into a race."

Aides to Madigan and Senate President Emil Jones say there is no requirement that recipients of leadership contributions trade their independence when it comes to voting on issues.

"They vote their districts," said Cindy Davidsmeyer, a spokeswoman for Jones.

State Rep. Mike Smith, D-Canton, who received nearly $500,000 from Madigan in one of the bloodiest battles of the 2006 campaign season, said he's never been asked by Madigan to sacrifice his independence.

"I've never known the speaker to operate that way," Smith said.

Spending jump

Although final fund-raising and spending numbers for the 2006 election won't be available for several weeks, preliminary figures indicate there was a jump in spending on legislative races.

In 2002, the previous gubernatorial election year, there were no House races where the combined amount of campaign money topped the $1 million mark. In 2006, there were five races that strayed into the seven-digit stratosphere.

In the Flider-Cain match, the two raised a combined $1.07 million in hopes of winning a job with a base pay of less than $60,000.

In the 107th House District, which includes the Centralia area, longtime incumbent Kurt Granberg, D-Carlyle, and his opponent, John Caveletto raised a combined $1.8 million.

In the Boland-Haring race in the Quad Cities, $1.3 million was raised. Of that, preliminary reports show Madigan poured in nearly $470,000 to help Boland retain his seat. House Republicans sent in nearly $520,000 in a failed effort to help Haring knock Boland out of office.

The same scenario played out in the state Senate where candidates in five races raised a combined $1 million or more in order to generate the cash for targeted political mail pieces and television ads.

That was an increase from the 2002 election cycle when four general election races topped the seven-figure mark.

Against the backdrop of the high spending and ongoing investigations into the alleged trading of campaign donations for state jobs and contracts, observers say 2007 could be the year Illinois politicians decide to rein in Illinois' wide-open campaign finance system.

Based on exit polls taken during the November election, Canary said it's clear the public is fed up with the status quo.

"Public confidence is very low," said Canary. "I think that we will see some response."

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What's ahead

Today: How campaign contributions help give legislative leaders leverage in controlling the General Assembly.

Monday: An examination of the proposals on tap to change the way Illinois finances elections.

Feb. 11: The final tally of how much was spent in the election after spending reports are filed at the end of January.