The Daily Journal doesn't allow its photos to be used in political attack mailers.

But they end up there anyhow.

Perhaps the biggest offender this year is the state Republican Party, which routinely uses Daily Journal photos of Democratic state representative candidate Lisa Dugan.

Dugan, a former state representative from Bradley, is facing Rep. Lindsay Parkhurst, R-Kankakee, in the 79th District.

Many of the photos of Dugan are used in conjunction with House Speaker Michael Madigan, D-Chicago, whom the Republicans say controls her.

The GOP apparently likes the Daily Journal headshot of Dugan where she's speaking into a microphone. With the magic of Photoshop, this headshot appears in a variety of contexts. In one case, Dugan's headshot was attached to a picture of a woman wearing a skirt and high heels. She is depicted pushing a boulder-sized ball of money up a hill with Madigan.

In another mailer, a flannel- and hard-hat-wearing Dugan is with the speaker, both of whom appear as workers demolishing Illinois. (The Photoshopped version of Madigan is curiously without a hard hat, perhaps a subtle GOP message that the speaker is willing to flout rules.)

In yet another piece, Dugan's and Madigan's headshots are attached to bodies wearing all black, depicted as criminals carrying bags titled "more debt" and "higher taxes."

The Republicans also use a Daily Journal photo taken of Dugan in her house in 2013.

Travis Sterling, executive director of the state GOP, acknowledged in an email that his party had used Daily Journal photos.

"As soon as we received the request from the Daily Journal, we asked our vendors to use photographs from sources other than the newspaper," he said. "We strive to respect all copyrights, and will continue to do so."

The Daily Journal found one case in which the state Democratic Party used a Daily Journal photo of Parkhurst. It's a headshot taken in 2016 where she is wearing a red sweater.

The Republicans have a bit of a history using newspaper photos without permission. In the La Salle County-based 76th District, the Republican Party repeatedly used a photo of Democrat Andy Skoog, which was taken by the Ottawa Times at a local festival.

The GOP-aligned Liberty Principles PAC also ran the photo.

The newspaper protested, saying it did not want its pictures used in political campaign materials. Yet the Republicans continued to run the photo.