Newspapers to Governor: Sign the Pay to Play Bill

Already this week, the Galesburg Register Mail, the Bloomington Pantagraph, the Tribune and the Sun-Times have reiterated the message that newspapers in every part of the state have been trumpeting for weeks: Gov. Blagojevich should sign HB 824, the pay to play bill that passed the legislature without a single dissenting vote, into law without changes. Ignoring that unanimity, the Governor this week announced plans to veto the bill unless the legislature agrees to changes. Given the Governor''''s track record of working with the legislature, this is a brazen effort to kill the bill and lay the blame elsewhere. Please contact the Governor today and urge him to rethink this path. There will be other reform bills. Do not jeopardize this one.

 

Monday''''s Tribune took notice of the fruits of our complaint against State Rep. Annazette Collins, who claimed no campaign receipts or expenditures for three years, despite running three winning campaigns. The Tribune credited our complains with prompting Collins to file amended reports showing that from 2005-2007, she''''d received $110,000 in contributions and spent $120,000. She agreed to issue an apology for filing inaccurate and incomplete reports, and her campaign committee was fined $20,000. "For this you can thank the Illinois Campaign for Political Reform, not the Board of Elections." Read the rest of the editorial to see the Trib lay into the State Board of Elections.

 

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