State's Richest Man Gives $200K To Hinsdale-Area Rep

HINSDALE, IL — For a politician, it helps to have the state's richest person in your corner. That's the case for two Republican state representatives running in battleground districts — Deanne Mazzochi of Elmhurst and Mark Batinick of Plainfield.

On Tuesday, Mazzochi's campaign reported receiving $200,000 from Ken Griffin, CEO of Chicago-based hedge fund Citadel. Batinick got the same amount a day earlier. Mazzochi's district includes all or parts of Hinsdale, Clarendon Hills and Elmhurst, among other towns.

Griffin also was reported as donating $2 million to the effort against Democratic Gov. J.B. Pritzker's campaign to convince voters to support a progressive income tax.

Mazzochi, who represents the 47th District, could use the infusion of cash. She had $29,000 in her campaign account on Sept. 30, the end of the third quarter. Her Democratic opponent, Jennifer Zordani of Clarendon Hills, has been getting hundreds of thousands from Democratic committees controlled by House Speaker Michael Madigan of Chicago. Zordani has not turned in her third quarter report yet to the state Board of Elections.

Batinick, who represents the 97th District, had $130,000 in his account at the end of the last quarter, less than half of Democratic opponent Harry Benton's $332,000.

Last year, Forbes reported that Griffin was worth $11.7 billion.