Someone pinch us. We must be dreaming. And we’re not talking about the Chicago Cubs.
The Illinois General Assembly has passed an ethics reform law. Twice, in fact, if you count the vote needed to override Gov. Rod Blagojevich’s amendatory veto. Beginning Jan. 1, it will be illegal for businesses seeking state contracts of $50,000 or more to make campaign contributions to the officeholder who would award them that contract, or to any candidate for that office.
(To put it another way, Blagojevich has a little more than three months left to rake in the bucks.)
So a round of applause, please, for lawmakers who kept the bill alive for more than a year while the governor and his friend, Senate President Emil Jones, tried to kill it. And a big hand to State Comptroller Dan Hynes, who got the ball rolling, and to Cindi Canary and the folks at the Illinois Campaign for Political Reform, who kept forcing the issue. And to several legislators who patiently saw this through. The good guys won. Well done.
Or rather, well begun.
The law just passed is aimed squarely at Blagojevich, a prodigious fundraiser who managed to scare up more than a quarter of a million dollars from contractors while the ethics bill was sitting on his desk. It’s no wonder there was so much smirking going on when he announced that the bill needed “improving” and that he was just the guy to do it.
But he’s right about one thing: The job isn’t anywhere near finished.
The new ethics law won’t stop contractors from giving money to state lawmakers, though legislative leaders have lots of influence over who gets state business. And though it takes a good first stab at pay-to-play politics, it doesn’t address other ethical pitfalls, such as disclosure of lobbying activities or enforcement of campaign finance disclosure laws.
Blagojevich actually addressed some of those issues when he tried to rewrite the legislation. But he also loaded the bill with booby traps and poorly crafted wording. Lawmakers ignored Blagojevich and passed the original bill without his changes.
Suddenly, it seems, ethics legislation has momentum. The Senate resurrected the governor’s amendments in a separate bill and voted 50-1 (with five voting “present”) to send that bill to the House.
So the Senate is the conscience of Illinois? Not really. Canary testified against the bill, saying it was poorly drafted and constitutionally flawed. Senate leadership wanted to help a spurned governor save face.
There’s no harm in letting that flawed bill die. House Speaker Michael Madigan isn’t likely to call it for a vote. We’re fine with that.
But Madigan is wrong if he thinks the job is done. It has just begun.
