Kudos on a Couple of Stories

We can't let another day go by without noting the legwork that Daily Herald reporter James Fuller and Crain's columnist Greg Hinz put in on stories about campaign giving to county officials.

Connecting the dots between vendors and candidates is never easy. Finding the links between contributions and contracts takes a lot of digging, a bit of serendipity, and a ton of support from people who know the local terrain. For state-level contracts, this job is made much easier by the Comptroller's Open Book website, but for local units of government, writing stories like these takes an effort. We commend Fuller and Hinz for their efforts..

Fuller's piece was on campaign giving in Kane County. He identified over three dozen entities that gave more than $43K in total to a member of the Kane County Board. All of them were contractors in Kane County, which has no rules prohibiting such contributions despite the appearance of pay to play. Whether these contributions were, in fact, improper depends on why they were made, but until somebody connects those dots, it's hard even to ask the question.

We also want to recognize Crain's reporter Greg Hinz, for staying on top of contributions from contractors that appear to have been funneled to Cook County Commissioner Joseph Moreno. Cook County forbids contractors to make large contributions directly to Cook County Board members, and state law forbids disguising the source of campaign funds. Hinz followed a political group's fundraiser in honor of Moreno and the ensuing contributions from contractors to that group, which appears to have passed the money on Moreno's fund.

Pay-to-play is tricky to prove. It goes in part to the intent of the contributor, and while disclosure rules detail who gave how much to whom and when, they do not cover the why of that transaction. Reporters like Fuller and Hinz have provided a context in which contributions can be better understood.

Blago Bio

Elizabeth Brackett's recent book on Rod Blagojevich's time as Governor, "Pay to Play -- How Rod Blagojevich Turned Political Corruption Into a National Sideshow," was the subject of a panel at the Printers Row Lit Fest over the weekend. Panel leader Eric Zorn has posted an mp3 of his conversation with Brackett on his blog. Give it a listen; it's 45 minutes well spent.

Rod Blagojevich: Alone with his Money?

Today's New York Times includes a profile of Gov. Blagojevich that describes him as "isolated" and "alone." Blago has always raised more money than anyone else and, with his list of campaign contributors, you'd think he'd never be lonely.

But a look at donations to his fund in the last half of 2008, released this week by the House Special Investigative Committee on impeachment, shows that many of his donors are walking away from him. These records are likely incomplete, but they suggest that people who gave to the governor in the past are toning down their support, significantly reducing their donations to his campaign fund.

Consider the utilities. Exelon kicked in $15K during the fall of of '07, but just $3.5K in the fall of '08. Ameren gave $12.5K in the fall of 2007, while fall of 2008 saw just $2K. People's Gas gave $10K in fall '08; half of what they gave a year earlier.

Other previous big donors to the governor appear to be similarly scaling back. Long-time Democratic donors Development Specialists gave $5K in fall 2008; down from $25K in fall 2007. Government Navigation Group, a lobbying firm, gave $500 in fall '08; Paul Rosenfeld, a principal at the firm, gave $5K in fall '07. Mr. & Mrs. James McDonough gave $1K in fall of '08; McDonough's company, state contractor McDonough & Assoc., gave $20K in the fall of '07. Sen. James Deleo's campaign fund gave $5K in fall '08; down from $20K in fall '07.

Even the laborers unions seem to have cut back. In the fall of 2007, three different regional laborers unions combined for $105K to Blago's fund. In the fall of 2008, just one regional, the Southern Central League, gave at all, and its giving totaled only $35K.

It seems that many gave to the governor because they thought he could deliver something. Impeached and facing federal corruption charges, his ability deliver has declined, and his receipts reflect that.

To join the comments on the contents of the list of donors, please visit yesterday's post, here.

ICPR HELPS ILLINOISANS BOOT BLAGO

REMOVE THE GOVERNOR AND ENACT MAJOR REFORMS

Illinoisans who want to give Gov. Rod Blagojevich the boot out of office can go to www.BootBlago.org for the latest information on the Blagojevich scandal and advice how they can help change the state’s political system.

“Like his predecessor George Ryan – aka Federal Inmate Number 16627424 – Rod Blagojevich is an embarrassment to the state of Illinois,” said Cynthia Canary, Director of the Illinois Campaign for Political Reform (ICPR). “The arrest of Gov. Blagojevich on a variety of corruption charges has lit a fire under taxpayers. If he’s not going to resign, they want to boot him out of office.”

The Illinois Campaign for Political Reform (ICPR) is redoubling its efforts to enact meaningful campaign finance reforms, and ICPR will help Illinoisans become advocates of the Governor Blagojevich's impeachment.

“Removing Gov. Blagojevich from office is not all that is needed to end the culture of corruption,” Canary said. “We have to reform the laws that now allow special interests to give unlimited amounts of money to campaigns, and we need to bring much more sunshine into the operations of state and local governments.

The fight can begin with a visit to www.BootBlago.org.

ICPR created the website as a tool to help Illinoisans unfamiliar with lobbying legislators and curious about the impeachment process.

Visitors to the website can write letters to Gov. Rod Blagojevich urging him to resign and can send letters to Lt. Gov. Pat Quinn suggesting ways to improve the system. Visitors also can learn more about the reforms needed to make state politics and government more fair and honest and can link to ICPR’s website with a searchable database of campaign contributions to the governor, legislators and other candidates.

The reforms advocated by ICPR include limiting the size of campaign contributions, banning contributions by corporations and unions, prohibiting large transfers of campaign cash by legislative leaders to candidates, creating a system of voluntary campaign financing of judges, taking politics out of legislative redistricting, strengthening the State Board of Elections, toughening lobbyist regulation, requiring state officials to report more detail personal financial information concerning debts and investments, and making it easier to access public records through the Freedom of Information Act.

Had enough?

The arrest of Gov. Rod Blagojevich and the numerous acts of corruption and abuse of power spelled out in the federal prosecutor’s 76-page complaint should be enough to light a fire under the Illinois General Assembly.

Yes, Gov. Blagojevich should resign. But because that would be the honorable thing for him to do, a resignation is not expected.

If he does not resign, the General Assembly should pass a law stripping him of the power to appoint Barack Obama’s replacement in the U.S. Senate.

But that is not enough. The Illinois House should immediately move forward with impeachment proceedings. Illinois cannot function in these troubled times under the leadership of a man who has lost the trust and confidence of the public.

For several decades, the men and women elected to the General Assembly and other statewide offices have not done enough to end the culture of corruption in state government and too many local governments.

At a minimum, state legislators – Democrats and Republicans – have been enablers of government corruption. George Ryan and Rod Blagojevich came to power in a system energized by money from people buying access, contracts, tax breaks and other benefits.

None of them have done enough to change the system. Passing legislation to take away Gov. Blagojevich’s power to name the state’s next U.S. Senator and removing him from office are not enough.

The General Assembly must pass laws directly addressing the culture of politics that allows people like Rod Blagojevich to become political leaders. It is time for the General Assembly to pass tough new laws limiting the size of campaign contributions, banning contributions by corporations and unions, prohibiting large transfers of campaign cash by legislative leaders to candidates, creating a system of voluntary campaign financing of judges, taking politics out of legislative redistricting, strengthening the State Board of Elections, toughening lobbyist regulation and making it easier for the public to access public records through the Freedom of Information Act.

The General Assembly also should make certain the recent pay-to-play legislation, which will take effect Jan. 1, is enforced and that the State Board of Elections has the funding and determination to carry out its responsibilities under the new law.

Voters, too, share some responsibility.

Enough is enough. It is time for action.

The Ethics of the Ethics Vote

To paraphrase a major newspaper columnist, a little bird told us that some challengers are trying to turn the vote to enact the pay-to-play ban despite Gov. Blagojevich's veto against incumbents. These challengers are apparently claiming that the vote to override the veto was a vote against ethics. Nothing could be further from the truth.

HB 824, the pay-to-play bill, was a hard-fought, carefully-vetted measure with wide support, under the dome and outside of it. The Governor's re-write was sloppy and likely unconstitutional.

After the Governor vetoed HB 824, the correct, ethical vote was to override his veto. We commend all legislators who made that decision.

ICPR WELCOMES REJECTION OF GOVERNOR’S VETO OF PAY-TO-PLAY REFORM LEGISLATION

The Illinois Senate on Monday rejected Gov. Rod Blagojevich’s veto of House Bill 824, legislation banning political contributions by state contractors to the officeholder awarding the contract. Because the House previously voted overwhelmingly in favor of overriding the veto, the Senate approval is final action, and the original bill will become law on January 1, 2009.

The Illinois Campaign for Political Reform (ICPR) released the following statement from Cynthia Canary, Director of ICPR:

“So many big campaign contributors have wound up with state contracts that Illinois has won a reputation as a state where you have to pay a campaign fund to win a government contract. Over time, pay-to-play schemes seemed so numerous that some honest contractors stopped trying to do business with state government, driving up costs to taxpayers and making Illinoisans question the honesty and fairness of their state government.

“By enacting these reforms, the General Assembly has made it much more difficult for pay-to-play to flourish. Unethical officeholders and contractors still will look for ways to game the system, but better rules will be in place to police contracting and to make it more difficult for favors to be awarded in exchange for campaign funds.

“More must be done to improve the fairness of Illinois elections and government. There should be reasonable limits on the amount of money anyone can give to all political candidates. We need improved disclosure of lobbyist activities and enforcement of laws regulating lobbyists. We should lessen the influence of special interest money in judicial election campaigns. We should strengthen the enforcement of campaign and government disclosure laws.

“The reform community greatly appreciates the perseverance of the sponsors of HB 824, the support of most of the leaders of the General Assembly, and the commitment of five of the six statewide elected leaders. The General Assembly has listened to the people of Illinois and enacted much needed pay-to-play reforms. We now need to work together to build on that reform and do more to improve the integrity, accountability and transparency of state government.”

# # #

Senate to Reconvene: Emil Jones

We've been asking you to call the Senate President's office and demand that he reconvene his chamber. It appears your calls have worked. Media reports now indicate that the Senate will reconvene next week. Thanks to your efforts, the Senate will have an opportunity to address the Pay to Play bill, among other things.

Now, we should apologize to those of you who tried to call the President's Chicago office. Some of you called to let us know that no one was answering. Your calls filled his voice mail. But those calls worked. President Jones says he's doing this for his "my friend" and former colleague, U.S. Sen, Barack Obama. But make no mistake, if all of you had sat silently, this session would not be happening.

Not to be left out, Gov. Blagojevich then announced a Special Session for Monday the 22nd at 1 pm to deal with "real ethics reform." So the ball is definitely rolling.

We thank you all for speaking up to protect this important legislation from almost certain death or legal challenge.

Now, on to Springfield!

Reconvene the Senate Now

To paraphrase President John F. Kennedy, Monday saw the most extraordinary collection of talent and knowledge gathered in one room since Thomas Jefferson dined alone. Now, it's your turn to take action. Please call Senate President Emil Jones and urge him to reconvene the Senate. Here's why:

At Monday's press conference in the James R. Thompson Center, those gathered at the podium included Comptroller Dan Hynes, Attorney General Lisa Madigan, Lt Gov Pat Quinn, Treasurer Alexi Giannoulias, Sen. Don Harmon, Sen. Debbie Halvorson, Sen. Terry Link, Sen. Susan Garrett, Sen. Jeff Schoenberg, Sen. Ira Silverstein, Sen. Kirk Dillard, Sen. Christine Radogno, Sen. Matt Murphy, Sen. Bill Brady, Sen. Pamela Althoff., former Comptroller Dawn Clark Netsch, ICPR Director Cindi Canary, BGA Director Jay Stewart, Citizen Action Director William McNary, Citizen Advocacy Center Director Terry Pastica, Illinois PIRG Director Brian Imus, League of Women Voters of Illinois President Paula Lawson, and the Rev. Al Sharp, the Director of Protestants for the Common Good.

What brought all these people together was one simple idea: The Illinois State Senate must immediately reconvene to address HB 824, the pay to play bill. Now, not later. Not after the Election, and certainly not more than 15 days since the House sent HB 824 back to the Senate to override the Governor's veto.

Waiting invites legal challenge. The state Constitution says that if either chamber takes longer than 15 calendar days to act on a veto, the underlying bill dies. Senate President Emil Jones claims the 15 day clock does not start running until the Senate reconvenes, but that argument has never been tested in court, and we do not want the pay-to-play bill to become the test case. Why let reform be tied up in court for years? Indeed, why wait at all? The message that united all of those elected officials and public advocates was simply this: reconvene now.

Here's some press coverage on the conference, from Crain's Chicago Business, the Chicago Sun-Times, the
AP via the Tribune, and the
Kankakee Daily Journal. And some editorials, from Bloomington Pantagraph (Today) the Rockford Register Star (Today), the Chicago Tribune (Monday), the Belleville News Democrat (Today), and the Jacksonville Journal Courier (Today):

Now it's your turn. Please call the Senate President at either 217-782-2728 or 773-995-7748 and tell him to bring his chamber back into session. His members want it. The public deserves it. Why wait?

Dr. Blagojevich, you’ve created a monster!

Gov. Rod Blagojevich has been called a lot of things, but The Peoria Journal Star may be the first to equate him with the mad scientist Dr. Victor Frankenstein.

In a September 4th editorial headlined “Governor creates monster of an ethics bill,” The Journal Star says the General Assembly should override the governor’s amendatory veto of House Bill 824, which would prohibit everyone with large state contracts from making campaign contributions to the officeholder awarding the contract.

The editorial criticized “Dr. Blagojevich” for proposing major changes that should be debated but not forced on the General Assembly. “When he was done doctoring HB 824, it looked nothing like the original – instead becoming an amalgam of extra parts. Basically, Blagojevich stitched together the Frankenstein of ethics reform. Now he’s unleashed his clumsy creation on Springfield.”

The Illinois Campaign for Political Reform agrees. This monster needs to be killed with an override by the House and Senate. If this creature isn’t killed, it could destroy the negotiated agreement to discourage pay-to-play contracting.

The editorial is timely because the House will be back in session next week to consider leasing the State Lottery as a funding mechanism for a multibillion-dollar construction program, and the amendatory veto of HB 824 also may be called for a vote. Before the General Assembly agrees to any new capital plan, it should make certain that the pay-to-play safeguards of HB 824 are in statute.

The Peoria Journal Star is one of many newspapers calling for an override of the veto of HB 824.

Although the others didn’t compare Gov. Blagojevich to Dr. Frankenstein, most were just as blunt in describing his veto and his executive order to extend the contribution ban to the legislative branch, state political parties and any officeholder, regardless of what office awarded the contract,

Here’s a sampling.

The Rockford Register-Star: “Legislators have vowed to override the Blagojevich veto. They should do so, and quickly. No more shams from the Flimflam Man!”

The Southern Illinoisan: “The governor blew it. He could have affixed his signature and shared in the credit for a change for the better in Illinois.”

The St. Louis Post-Dispatch: “With a 60 percent vote in both houses, the General Assembly can override an amendatory veto and pass the original bill. Legislators should do so promptly. The people of Illinois are tired of crooked government.”

The State Journal-Register: “In the first half of 2008 alone, Blagojevich received $238,500 in campaign contributions from businesses or employees of businesses that have contracts worth more than $50,000 with agencies under the governor’s control, according to the Illinois Campaign for Political Reform. 
So forgive us if we take the governor’s sudden reform movement — and his impulse to author radically new ethics and fundraising legislation — with a grain of salt the size of Lincoln’s Tomb. We hope the legislature does the same this fall and restores the ethics and campaign finance bills to their original form.”

The Decatur Herald & Review: “. . . the governor's action shows he's really not interested in ethics reform.”

The Moline Dispatch and The Rock Island Argus: “The amendatory veto message he signed last week dripped with hypocrisy. This is, after all, the governor who spent months enriching his campaign chest with money from state contractors. Now he wants to ban such contributions?”

The Chicago Sun-Times: “Being governor, it turns out, doesn't give anyone the right to rule by fiat. That's especially true when you risk constitutional challenges that can force the state back to square one.”

The Chicago Tribune: “It's not a perfect bill, but it's a solid bill that this page has repeatedly urged the governor to sign. Just as we now urge legislators to override his veto of it. As is, the people of Illinois stand confronted with more of the Blagojevichian antics that have made him so untrustworthy. Rather than push legislators to write his "improvements" into law, he'd rather grandstand for the cameras, make noise about reform, and hope that—with public attention focused on the Democratic National Convention in Denver—nobody is paying much attention to the culture of political sleaze back home in Illinois.”



Well said.

WellPaying Contributor to Blagojevich Back in the News

A couple of years ago, reports in the Tribune, Crain's, and the State Journal Register linked five bundled donations to Gov. Blagojevich's campaign with the All Kids health insurance program and the contract to manage it. New reports out today suggest that pattern may be repeating itself, this time in Florida.

Today's news report indicates that WellCare is "the biggest campaign contributor to Republican state House candidate Will Pruitt " and that "Pruitt received 20 separate $500 contributions, the limit for individual contributions, from WellCare Health Plans Inc. and its subsidiaries: WCG Health Management, Comprehensive Logistics, Comprehensive Health and Healthease."

If that sounds familiar, it should. On Nov. 21, 2005, WellCare made 5 separate $20,000 donations to Gov. Blagojevich's campaign. Those donations, made through subsidiaries including WellCare Health Plans Inc and WCG Health Management, came less than a week after the Governor signed into law his All Kids insurance program.

WellCare also hired Blagojevich protégé John Wyma in August of 2005; in January, 2006, another WellCare subsidiary, Harmony Health Care, hired Wyma, and has retained Wyma ever since.

At the time they hired Wyma and made the $100K in donations to the governor's campaign fund, Harmony Health Care held a $99M contract with the Department of Healthcare and Family Services. That contract grew to $110M n FY07, $150M in FY08, and $162M in the current fiscal year. That's almost a two-thirds increase in their contract value in just three short years.

There may be more. According to Forbes, WellCare is under investigation by the FBI for possible Medicare fraud in Florida and Illinois. The company has acknowledged errors in both states.

Is there a pattern of bundling donations through subsidiaries to win state contracts? Either way, it's time to cut the connection between campaign money and state contracts.

ICPR SAYS NO TO MULTIBILLION-DOLLAR SPENDING WITHOUT PAY-TO-PLAY REFORMS

The Illinois Campaign for Political Reform urges legislative leaders to insist Gov. Blagojevich accept limitations on pay-to-play contracting as part of any new multibillion-dollar capital plan.

Gov. Blagojevich has called legislative leaders to a meeting Thursday to negotiate a capital construction program, reportedly in the range of $20 billion to $34 billion.

“House Bill 824, now sitting on the governor’s desk, would ban businesses with state contracts from making campaign contributions to the officeholder awarding the contract,” said Cynthia Canary, Director of ICPR. “The governor should sign HB 824 and give the public some confidence the billions of dollars in news spending would be done fairly and would not be directed at the wallets of the businesses contributing to his campaign fund.”

In the first 30 days after the General Assembly passed HB 824, the governor’s campaign committee actively solicited contributions from businesses with state contracts and collected at least $250,000 from state contractors in that short period of time, according to a Chicago Tribune investigation.

“The governor claims he wants billions in new infrastructure spending to create jobs and to guard against a bridge collapse as happened in Minneapolis last year,” Canary said. “But after years of headlines about contracts that look more like pay-to-play than legitimate state business, taxpayers have to wonder whether his top concern is bridge safety or building up his campaign treasury.

“If he would sign the bill to discourage pay-to-play and stop soliciting money from people doing business with the state, he would give the public reason to believe those new construction dollars would be spent fairly,” she said. “Legislative leaders should insist HB 824 is signed into law before giving the governor the ability to award billions in new spending for bridges, roads, and other projects.”

State contractors continue contributing to Gov. Blagojevich

It is still business as usual for Gov. Blagojevich, the only statewide officeholder taking campaign contributions from companies with state-paid contracts awarded by his office or agencies under his control.

Yesterday, the Blagojevich campaign committee filed campaign disclosure reports for the first half of 2008, and we have found dozens of contributions from people and businesses connected to state contracts. In a preliminary look through his report, we found 70 that appear, on their face, to be from businesses or employees of businesses that have FY09 contracts from agencies under his control worth more than $50,000. Those donations total $238,500. That's about 22% of his itemized individual donations, or 12.6% of all the contributions to his campaign.

We did not look too closely for parent, sibling, or subsidiary businesses with contracts, or for people for whom the campaign did not provide occupation and employer information, so the numbers with contracts could be higher.

Of course, we're interested in these contributions by contractors because House Bill 824 awaits action by the Governor. If signed into law, HB 824 would prohibit large state contractors from making contributions to the political committee of the officeholder awarding the contract. Passed without any dissent by the General Assembly, HB 824 would limit pay-to-play opportunities in state contracting.

If you want to do your own searching, we recommend the Comptrollers' contractor search site. (http://www.wh1.ioc.state.il.us/QuickTake/Contracts/index.cfm). Its Open Book service is terrific. But because new campaign reports were just filed with the State Board of Elections, it may be a bit out of date today. Give it a week or so go catch up. The contractor search page is updated daily, and covers most of the statewide officers (some agencies, like the Illinois Finance Authority, are not included, but most are).

Here are some of the highlights of what we found:

Alfred Benesch and Company has $17M in FY09 contracts, up from $7.5M in FY08. That includes $12.4M with the Illinois State Toll Highway Authority and $4.6M with IDOT. The company gave a single $5K check on June 27 and employees gave another $19,500 over the course of the six month disclosure period.

Burns + McDonnell Engineering has $14.4M in FY 09 contracts, up from $5.1M in FY08. That includes $12M with ISTHA and $2M with IDOT. The company gave $15K on June 4.

Civiltech Engineering has $7.5M in FY09 contracts, up from $5.1M in FY08. That includes $4.6M in ISTHA and $2.8M in IDOT. The company wrote a $10K check on June 17.

V3 Companies of Illinois has $9.5M in FY09 contracts, up from $4.9M in FY08. Nearly all of the money is with ISTHA. The company wrote two checks: one for $4K on April 7 and a second for $10K on June 17.

Entran has $1.9M in FY09 contracts, down from $2.4M in FY08. Nearly all the FY09 contracts are with IDOT. The company wrote one check for $13,750 on June 20.

Let us know what you see!