February 25, 2005

Contact: Alan P. Henry
312-814-5707
847-644-3545 (cell)

Hynes reform bill attacks “pay to play” politics
He also issues Executive Order restricting contributions to himself

Comptroller Dan Hynes today proposed a legislative package of reforms that would dramatically reduce the corrupting influence of campaign contributions on the awarding of state contracts. At the same time, he issued an Executive Order making his office subject to the restrictions immediately.

Hynes was joined by Sen. Miguel del Valle, D-Chicago, Rep. John Fritchey, D-Chicago, and Rep. Bill Black, R-Danville, all of whom have been outspoken on the need for these types of campaign finance reforms.

Hynes called his Government Integrity Initiative “a two-pronged attack on pay-to-play politics and a common sense means to make government conduct the people’s business in the light of day.”

The measures would mandate the following:

• Contractors with a total of more than $25,000 in state contracts would be prohibited from contributing to the officeholder who awarded the contracts.
• For all contracts exceeding $10,000, the bidder/offerer would be required as part of the procurement process to disclose all contributions to the officeholder awarding the contract within the previous two years.

Under the Comptroller’s Executive Order, those bidding for contracts have to disclose Hynes campaign contributions to the Executive Inspector General of the Comptroller’s office. Further, the Order bans contributions from persons or entities with more than $10,000 in contracts with the Comptroller’s office.

“We must lead by example, and make it clear ethics reform is more than words,” said Hynes, who becomes the first statewide officeholder to restrict his campaign financing in such a manner.

“I am pleased to be working with Comptroller Hynes to make concrete campaign finance reform a reality,” said Sen. Del Valle, who will be the lead-sponsor of the legislation in the Senate. “The Comptroller’s proposal addresses my concerns about the need to stop feeding the public perception that there is a connection between campaign contributions and the awarding of state contracts.”

“Given our unfortunate history, we owe it to the people of the state of Illinois to take whatever steps we can to reassure them that public contracts are awarded on the basis of qualifications and not contributions,” said Rep. Fritchey, House sponsor of the measure.

Rep. Black called it “unfortunate there is a public perception that in order to do business with the state of Illinois, you must pay-to-play. I’m concerned this discourages qualified vendors from bidding, which shrinks competition, and that is not in the best interest of the state. These steps taken today, especially the contract disclosure components, will help change that perception for the better.”

Cynthia Canary, Director of the Illinois Campaign for Political Reform, endorsed the Hynes reform proposals. “The public deserves to know how its money is being spent and that state contracts are being awarded on merit rather than political connections.” Canary added that the ICPR hopes the provisions in Hynes’ Executive Order are expanded to all state Constitutional Officers.

The ban on contributions by contractors with more than $25,000 in state contracts would also apply to persons closely affiliated with the contractor such as owners and their spouses, as well as affiliated entities, such as subsidiaries and political committees controlled by the contractor. The ban would be for the remainder of the officeholder’s current term of office or two years beyond the end of the contract, whichever is greater.

If a contractor violates the ban, its state contracts are voidable by the state. If the ban is violated three times in a three year period, then all of its contracts are automatically void and the contractor is banned from bidding for additional state contracts for three years. All violations would be publicized in both the procurement bulletin and the Illinois Register.

Under Hynes’ proposal, the required disclosure by contract bidders of contributions to candidates for state office within the previous two years could not be used in the awarding of the contract. It would, however, become part of the publicly available procurement file and the contract file at the Comptroller’s office.

The contributions to be disclosed would have to exceed a total of $500.

Under the proposed law, the Comptroller would not pay bills based on contracts for which the required disclosures have not been filed with the Comptroller’s office.

Both of those proposals would be amendments to the Procurement Act.

“Given the scandals in Illinois in recent years, elected officials must take meaningful steps to eliminate the appearance of corruption,” said Hynes. “The public deserves it.”

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