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New local “paper” really a campaign mailer funded by Rauner PAC

At first glance, Rock Island Today newspaper looks like the real thing, albeit thin, a local weekly paper for local residents.

At first glance, Rock Island Today newspaper looks like the real thing, albeit thin, a local weekly paper for local residents.

But you'd better look again.

Rock Island Today and its online version include a spattering of local sports stories, profiles of Quad City athletes, a story about  the Rock Island library, community events, and headlines about two area Republican candidates, and an investigative report slamming a Democratic officeholder.

The paper though, is printed in Chicago and is funded by a political action committee called Liberty Principles. The PAC is helping fund and support Republican candidates around the state, including candidate Brandi McGuire, who is running for state representative.

Hence, the favorable front page story about McGuire, who has received nearly $100,000 from Liberty for campaign advertising.

According to state election filings, Liberty Principles is actually funded by another PAC, called Turnaround Illinois, which transferred about 1.8 million dollars in January.

Turnaround Illinois is funded by billionaire businessman Sam Zell, and Illinois Governor Bruce Rauner.

According to state election filings, Zell contributed 4 million dollars to Turnaround Illinois, with Rauner giving $250,000.

Local Republican party chairman Bill Bloom says he just saw Rock Island Today this week, and says it does look like a "real" newspaper," which he believes is a win- win.

"I don't think it's sneaky. It's extremely well done. They're just trying to add validity and local interest to draw people in to read it," Bloom said.

In past years, other candidates of both parties have tried creative ways to pitch their message through mailers, including "papers" and "newsletters."

But this one, with its cherry-picked local content, looks more like a "newspaper" than campaign material.

"I think it's just a creative way to try to repackage information about candidates and issues to get people to stop and read it," Bloom said.

The "paper" is scheduled to have a different edition every week, until primary election day.

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