The Journal Standard

10/24/05
Real reform needed to end ‘pay to play' politics
The issue: Pay-to-play politics
Our view: Real reform proposal can't be replaced by symbolic half-measures.
With control of the Senate, the House and the governor's mansion, Illinois Democrats last week blew a golden pre-election opportunity to fundamentally change the way the state does the peoples' business by embracing sweeping reform proposals floated by Illinois Comptroller Dan Hynes.
While not solving all of our problems, those proposals, crafted in time for consideration during the fall veto session, would have sent shock waves through a state legislature that, like the U.S. Congress, has become little more than a proxy for corporate and special interests to the detriment of taxpayers who foot the bill.
To help reduce the flow of big money and outside influence in state government, Hynes proposed that contractors with more than $25,000 in state contracts would be prohibited from contributing to the officeholder who awarded the contracts or to any political committees campaigning in support of the elected official. The ban also would apply to those with ties to the contractor, including spouses, owners, executive employees and political action committees controlled by them, thus eliminating a popular means of dodging ethics rules and disclosure safeguards.
Moreover, Hynes proposal called for an amendment to the Illinois procurement code requiring all bidders on state contracts over $10,000 to disclose all contributions over $500 made within the previous two years to the officeholder responsible for awarding the contract or to any political committees established to promote the candidacy of the office holder. Hynes' proposal - pitched to newspaper editorial boards last week - targets the insipid pay-to-play schemes politicians at the state and national level have increasingly used to preserve their power and reward their friends, relegating what's best for the people who elected them to an annoying afterthought.
“People are saying that they have had enough,” said Hynes. “Our goal is to end pay-to-play” government.
He's right about that. Recent national and state corruption scandals - including the trial of former Gov. Ryan - have educated voters on the way things really work today in our halls of government. And the more they see, the angrier they get.
But some politicians are a little slow to get it, apparently. Last week, House Speaker Michael Madigan - perhaps himself addicted to the big-money interests and power-broker scams Hynes is targeting - wimped out, floating instead some type of watered-down “ethics” proposal that would amount to little substantive change.
Meanwhile, the self-proclaimed reform governor who campaigned on a promise to help end pay-to-play government for good, has won little traction for his own modest reform proposals, including halfhearted limits on contributions, while largely ignoring the get-tough reforms proposed by fellow Democrat Hynes.
Someone needs to remind Blagojevich and Madigan that there is an election next year, and that standing on the sidelines while others in state government take a leadership role on reform isn't a prescription for success at the ballot box.
Locally, our own representatives, including State Rep. Jim Sacia and State Sen. Todd Sieben, should consider joining Hynes in a bipartisan effort to enact real reform.
Both parties share the blame for opening the doors of government to the highest bidder in recent decades. Now, it's up to both parties to join together to do something about it.