A coalition of Illinois political reform advocates hope to put the kibosh on pay-to-play politics and expose how ballot measures are financed once and for all by calling on state legislators to override Gov. Rod Blagojevich's amendatory vetoes of two key reform bills.
The coalition, comprised of the Illinois Campaign for Political Reform, the League of Women Voters of Illinois, the Better Government Association, and a handful of other groups, today released an open letter to lawmakers that they hope will ratchet up the pressure as officials return to Springfield this week:
After a long and drawn out process, the pay-to-play and disclosure legislation that was overwhelmingly passed by both houses mirrors the public’s strong support for ethics reforms ... [R]esidents of Illinois are highly concerned about corruption in state government, extremely concerned about the influence of money in state politics, and are far less likely to “trust the government in Illinois to do what is right” as compared to residents who live in the surrounding midwestern states. It’s time to start restoring public confidence in the legislature and in the legislative process.
Blagojevich defends the two vetoes as actually strengthening the reform efforts. The first applied to SB 2190, which would force greater financial disclosure from groups pushing for ballot measures. In his veto, the governor rewrote the bill to require disclosure from political committees that either push to elect candidates to state offices or funnel contributions back to elected officials.
Meanwhile, HB 824 -- as passed by the legislature -- bars major state contractors from directing campaign contributions at government officials who awarded their contracts. Blagojevich's amendatory veto extended this provision to apply to all constitutional officers, not just those legislators responsible for specific contracts.
But the good-government advocates circulating the open letter aren't buying the beefed-up "reforms." While the revisions might sound good, they see the changes as potentially too broad to weather legal challenges down the road.
Once House lawmakers return to Springfield tomorrow, they'll have 15 days to cast their votes and potentially override the governor's veto on the House bill. Senate members aren't scheduled to return to the state capitol until November to cast their votes.
"The clock hasn't started ticking yet," said Illinois Campaign for Political From director David Morrison. But once it does, the coalition, which is calling for a series of public hearings on the issue, hopes that it will start the countdown to adopting additional reforms. Ironically, those reformers could end up rallying support for new measures that sound a lot like the governor's vetoes.
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