About TheJacket
“Politicians should wear a jacket with all the companies and organizations that pay into them, so we can see who they really work for.”— Robin Williams
TheJacket is a nonpartisan civic transparency project built for Cook County voters heading into the March 17, 2026 Illinois primary. Every candidate. Every donor. Every red flag. No spin.
Mission
Campaign finance data exists — it's just scattered, dense, and designed for lawyers, not voters. TheJacket pulls that data into one place and makes it legible: who funds each candidate, what industry money they take, and what their public record looks like.
The Transparency Score isn't a grade on policy. It's a grade on what's publicly verifiable — dark money, ethics findings, criminal record, corporate PAC concentration. Higher score = cleaner record. Lower = more flags. Every deduction is sourced.
Data Sources
16 sources across official records, investigative journalism, and reference databases. Every fact in a candidate profile traces back to at least one of these.
Official Records
Primary source for all state and county campaign finance — committee filings, donor tables, cash on hand, expenditures for every candidate in Illinois
Federal campaign finance for U.S. Senate and U.S. House races — receipts, disbursements, donor itemization
Candidate filing records, official ballot certification, and supplemental disclosure data
Official candidate filing records and ballot verification for Cook County races
Voting records, bill sponsorship, and attendance records for federal incumbents
Journalism
Race coverage, endorsements, candidate investigations, and editorial board ratings used throughout candidate profiles
Candidate coverage, finance investigations, and endorsement records
Primary source for judicial candidate investigations — bar ratings, ethics complaints, disciplinary records
Voter guide, candidate field verification, and election context for primary races
Neighborhood-level candidate coverage and community impact reporting
National donor network investigations — AIPAC, Hindu nationalist networks, and outside spending
Real estate and finance donor investigations for Cook County races
Illinois political intelligence, Springfield insider reporting, and campaign finance analysis
Reference
Judicial candidate ratings (Qualified / Not Recommended / Highly Qualified) used in all judge scoring
Supplemental bar ratings and judicial candidate evaluations
Candidate biography, prior office history, and race field verification — used for baseline facts only, always cross-referenced
Methodology
- —Only public-record sources are used. No anonymous tips, no unverified claims.
- —Unknown dollar values are left null — we don't estimate or guess.
- —Any unconfirmed claim is marked as alleged. Confirmed: false means it hasn't been independently verified.
- —Federal and state/local finance data are tracked separately — FEC handles federal races, ILSBE handles state and county.
- —Scores are deduction-based from a baseline of 100. Every point deducted links to a specific finding.
Built By
TheJacket is an independent civic project built by a Chicago-based developer and researcher. Not affiliated with any campaign, party, PAC, or outside organization. No outside funding. No ads. No monetization. Built on personal time as a public service ahead of the March 17 primary.
We hold politicians accountable for their funding sources — so we should be transparent about ours. This project has no donors. No ads. No outside money. Just a belief that voters deserve better tools.
Built in Chicago. Launched March 2026.