Illinois voters have easy way to find out where legislative candidates stand on political reform issues

Feb. 28, 2012   FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE CONTACT: Brian Gladstein  (312) 335-1767

CHICAGO – Beginning today, Illinois voters can visit www.ILcampaign.org and www.ChangeIL.org to find out where state legislative candidates stand on a variety of campaign and government reform issues, including limits on legislative leader contributions and lobbyist regulations.

The Illinois Campaign for Political Reform (ICPR) and the CHANGE Illinois! coalition worked together on a project that sent questionnaires to every candidate for state House and Senate.

View questionnaire responses from House and Senate candidates.

“Building a more transparent, accountable Illinois government starts with electing candidates to office who are going to champion political reform issues,” ICPR Executive Director Brian Gladstein said. “By reviewing the responses to our candidate survey, voters will know where their local candidates stand on these important issues before the election and can help hold the winners accountable when they go to Springfield.”

“An overwhelming majority, nearly 97 percent, of the candidates responding to the questionnaire say they favor limiting campaign contributions by legislative leaders during general election campaigns,” said George Ranney, a Co-Chair of the CHANGE Illinois! coalition.  “We’ve made it easy for voters to know where candidates stand on this and many other important reform issues, as well as see which candidates have not responded.”

The questionnaire seeks candidates’ opinions on a variety of issues, including contribution limits on legislative leaders, redistricting commissions, increased disclosure of candidates’ and state officials’ personal financial information and campaign public financing.

All seats in the Illinois General Assembly are up for election in 2012, the first election held since the state undertook the once-in-a-decade redistricting process.

The public can access the responses from their state House and Senate candidates to learn their positions these policy areas, and compare their responses to those of other candidates across the state.

ICPR and CHANGE Illinois! continue to encourage candidates to answer their questions, so that voters can make an informed decision on Election Day.

Candidates who do not respond to our questionnaire are noted on the questionnaire response pages.
The questionnaire results will be updated on a rolling basis through the March 20 primary. View the responses here.
 
About the Illinois Campaign for Political Reform

The Illinois Campaign for Political Reform is a non-profit, non-partisan public interest organization that conducts research and advocates reforms to promote public participation in government, address the role of money in politics and encourage integrity, accountability and transparency in government. The late U.S. Sen. Paul Simon and former Lt. Gov. Bob Kustra founded ICPR in 1997.

About CHANGE Illinois!

CHANGE Illinois! is a growing coalition of individuals and civic, business, labor, professional, nonprofit and philanthropic organizations representing more than 2 million Illinoisans.  For more information, go to www.ChangeIL.org.