Limit campaign cash
We applaud the Tribune on its call for speedier campaign contribution disclosure and tougher penalties for violations, and for placing limits on contributions by legislative leaders and committees (“Campaign exposure,” Editorial, April 12).
Although campaign contribution limits will not end all political corruption in Illinois, they are important and they will help. Most important they will send a message that government belongs to the voters and not the donors.
Limits set at the federal level provide opportunities for meaningful involvement by ordinary citizens and do not institutionalize big campaign giving.
Strict campaign finance limits set at $2,400 and modeled after those now in place for federal elections will do several important things, including the following:
* Reduce the possibility of favoritism to big givers.
* Make it easier for ordinary citizens to run for office.
* Reduce the perception that our government is for sale.
* Restore public trust in Illinois government and increase citizen participation.
We need strict limits on campaign cash in Illinois now, modeled after the federal system. After all if it’s good enough to elect the president of the United States, shouldn’t it be good enough for the politicians of Illinois?
— George Ranney, Deborah Harrington, Peter Bensinger, co-chairs, CHANGE Illinois!, Chicago
Closer scrutiny
I was pleased to read the Tribune’s editorial “Campaign exposure” advocating ways to increase transparency in the reporting of campaign contributions. Many of the reforms highlighted in your editorial are similar to the concepts I recently presented to Gov. Pat Quinn’s Illinois Reform Commission.
I could not agree with you more that the most important idea “is to give the public good, quick information about who is giving and who is getting.” Better disclosure laws will foster closer scrutiny, and allow the public and the media to chronologically track campaign contributions with official actions.
This spring, I am co-sponsoring House Bill 1061, which would require prompt disclosure — within two business days — of campaign contributions of $1,000 or more. This would be a yearlong requirement; currently reporting is only required on a semiannual basis or 30 days out from an election.
Another idea to regulate campaign finances would be to shorten the election cycle by moving the primary date closer to the general election. A lengthy campaign season is difficult for voters to endure and puts tremendous pressure on candidates to raise money and consequently could influence public policy.
Next year we begin the process of redistricting in Illinois. The system of drawing legislative boundaries is based upon the flip of a coin and is another part of the overall problem. In 2011, millions of taxpayer dollars will be spent drawing new maps, millions will be spent on court challenges and millions more will be spent defending seats because of a new map. The current system gives one-party control over how legislative districts in this state are drawn and much of the work is done outside of the public view. We propose a constitutional amendment before the voters in 2010 that encourages fairness, transparency and removes partisan political advantage from the process.
— Rep. Tom Cross, (R-Oswego), House Republican leader
Tea party shame
I wonder if these “tea party” tax protesters, who most likely called any Iraq protesters unpatriotic, ever gave the slightest thought to the trillions it’s costing us for George W. Bush’s war.
Yet they complain about the Obama plan, which is costing a fraction of the war budget, a plan that will put people to work, fix our crumbling roads and bridges, fund our schools and shore up an economy that Bush destroyed.
Are they saying we shouldn’t spend our tax dollars on this country and we the people?
Now that’s unpatriotic!
Shame on them!
— Thomas Gianni, Chicago
History lesson
As a U.S. history teacher, I feel I must remind the current-day “tea party” protesters that the Boston Tea Party was not a protest against a tea tax. The 1773 Tea Act gave the British East India Co. (and only that company) a tax break other colonial tea traders could not enjoy.
The original Boston Tea Party was a protest against a cozy relationship between a large company and the government.
The current protests would have been more appropriate during the last Bush administration.
— Edward Dziedzic, Chicago
Good fortune
On April 14, after doing our taxes, I told my wife that, unlike the average, our refund would be less. We thought about this. We’re still not sure why but think it’s because we had a better year than the last. We are hard workers and we are grateful for our good fortune in such difficult times. Under the circumstances, we aren’t upset about having to pay a bit more, even a higher rate. What’s wrong with paying our fair share? Then I saw the tea-party people protesting their taxes. I can relate to the ones who are hurting. Not that long ago, through no fault of our own, we were in dire straits and on the receiving end. We were grateful for government assistance. We were grateful when we didn’t owe federal income tax and received earned income credit. We couldn’t have survived without it. And while a chief complaint of the protesters is that segment of our population that doesn’t pay federal income tax but gets money back, as we did, it seems to me that the main promotion of the tax day protest this year is that taxes are too high for all, but particularly for the rich. If people spoke at the “tea party” and proposed collecting money to buy fish and take a trip to the food bank to give the fish to help feed the hungry, they’d be lucky to get out with their life. That crowd may love God, America and family, but they just aren’t the “give fish” crowd. They are the “sell fish” crowd.
— Rick Singer, Skokie
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