Napoleon Harris' Illinois Senate campaign spent $6,600 at high-end stores, at least partly on clothes

State Sen. Napoleon Harris’ campaign fund has spent more than $6,600 over the past several years at high-end department stores on clothing and other items, records show, but the Flossmoor Democrat and former NFL linebacker won’t explain what was bought and why.

The largest of those expenses by Friends of Napoleon Harris, totaling $2,257.50, was made four days before Christmas in 2020 at the Neiman Marcus store in Oak Brook, according to Illinois State Board of Elections records submitted by the campaign that say the expenditures were for “clothing and supplies.”

Three days before Christmas in 2021, Harris’ campaign reported spending $1,177.13 at the same store, telling the elections board the payment was for “clothes.”

Records show Harris’ campaign committee also reported spending:

• $1,452.08 at the Nordstrom at 55 E. Grand Ave. in the North Loop in November 2022. That expenditure doesn't list a “purpose,” as required.
• $937.13 at the Oak Brook Neiman Marcus in May 2022. No explanation was given.
• $866.70 at a Saks Fifth Avenue in Miami in October 2021 for what was described as “clothes for political event.”

The following month, Harris’ campaign reported paying more than $1,700 for “lodging” at the Four Seasons Hotel Miami that's about a mile from the Saks, records show.

Harris’ high-end spending

Illinois politicians' campaign funds generally aren't supposed to be used on personal expenses. And the rules specifically flag clothing as something that can't be purchased with campaign money if it’s for personal use.

According to state election law, “A political committee shall not make expenditures” for “clothing or personal laundry expenses, except clothing items rented by the public official or candidate for his or her own use exclusively for a specific campaign-related event, provided that committees may purchase costumes, novelty items or other accessories won primarily to advertise the candidacy.”

But the same law also grants wide leeway to political figures on spending, saying, “Nothing in this section prohibits the expenditure of funds of a political committee controlled by an officeholder or by a candidate to defray the customary and reasonable expenses of an officeholder in connection with the performance of governmental and public service functions.”

Federal law could apply, though, if a political figure were to use campaign money on personal expenses and not pay income tax on that money.

Harris, who chairs the Illinois Senate’s Insurance Committee and is part of Illinois Senate President Don Harmon’s leadership team, wouldn’t answer most questions about his spending. In a written statement, he said: “As a candidate and elected official, I have filed publicly available campaign reports for more than a decade. If there are discrepancies that can be remedied to provide greater transparency or clarity, we’ll address them in a timely fashion.”

State law allows campaign funds to pay for vehicle leases if vehicles are “primarily” used for political or governmental purposes and not as a family car. There are no restrictions on how much can be spent for those leases or the type of vehicle.

In 2020, Harris' campaign reported paying Mercedes-Benz of Orland Park $14,000 for a lease payment. The model wasn’t listed.

Between 2021 and late 2023, his campaign spent more than $5,000 at Rizza Cadillac in Tinley Park. Two of the payments were reported as being for “maintenance,” one was for a lease and a fourth gave no details.

Last August, Harris’ campaign fund spent nearly $2,000 at Discount Tire in Crestwood on “car maintenance.”

Harris, a legislator since 2013, derives income from a company that runs a Beggars Pizza franchise in Harvey. His campaign has reported paying the restaurant more than $50,000 over the years, records show.

In February, Harris’ campaign committee paid his Beggars $6,000 for “reading program vouchers.”

In 2022, the political fund paid Beggars $4,000 for “rental space," and it reported spending $7,500 more that year for “rent," apparently for using space there for his campaign headquarters for a time, records show.

In 2021, Harris’ campaign paid Beggars $10,000 for “meals for various programs and functions” and $10,000 for the “Senator Harris Reading Program.”

An Alsip company that provides food and supplies to restaurants was paid more than $100,000 by Harris’ campaign since 2022, records show. Some of the expenditures were listed as being for “supplies and food products” or just “supplies.” Three of the 10 payments to the company list no detail. Company officials didn't return calls.

Harris’ campaign fund paid a private elementary and middle school in northwest Indiana more than $13,000 since 2017, with eight of the nine payments listed as donations. One — for more than $5,000 in 2021 — was described as “contractual.”

Harris wouldn't say whether any of those payments covered tuition for his children. The law says political committees “shall not make expenditures” directly “for educational expenses, except for governmental or political purposes directly related to a candidate’s or public official’s duties and responsibilities.”