From the SJ-R:
Senate Democrats unveil ethics bill
4/15/08
Compromise with House will be key to passing proposal, Hynes said
BY ADRIANA COLINDRES
OF GATEHOUSE NEWS SERVICE
SPRINGFIELD - Supporters of government-ethics proposals to get rid of "pay to play" politics in Illinois say they believe they're moving closer to an agreement that could become law.
A year after the Illinois House of Representatives passed an ethics bill that never came up for a Senate vote, Senate Democrats on Tuesday unveiled their version of government reform.
"Pay to play" allegations have surfaced repeatedly in state government over the years, and they are at the heart of the ongoing federal trial of Tony Rezko in Chicago. A former top fundraiser for Gov. Rod Blagojevich and U.S. Sen. Barack Obama, Rezko is accused of teaming up with Stuart Levine to "split a $1.5 million bribe from a contractor and shake down money management firms seeking state pension business," according to The Associated Press. Neither Blagojevich nor Obama has been charged with wrongdoing.
The Illinois Senate proposal, an amended version of House Bill 824, builds on earlier ethics proposals, said Sen. Don Harmon, D-Oak Park.
"This has been a long nine to 12 months of trying to come up with how we were going to enhance and make a bill better . . . and make sure we pass good, comprehensive reform," Senate Majority Leader Debbie Halvorson, D-Crete, said at a State Capitol news conference.
Key components of the Senate plan would:
- Bar contractors who do more than $50,000 in business with the state from contributing to the political funds of any officeholder who awarded the contract.
- Bar those same contractors from making political contributions to any of the officeholder's declared challengers.
- Require businesses to register with the State Board of Elections within 30 days of receiving a state contract and to report all contributions to political committees.
The Senate plan differs in some ways from an ethics proposal that passed the House last year but sat idle in the Senate. Under that legislation, House Bill 1, individuals who have contracts worth $25,000 or more would be prohibited from making political contributions.
Two vocal supporters of ethics reform, Comptroller Dan Hynes and Cindi Canary of the Illinois Campaign for Political Reform, said the Senate and House proposals both have merit.
Hynes looks forward to working with lawmakers to ensure that the General Assembly passes "meaningful ethics legislation" this year, said his spokeswoman, Carol Knowles.
"I think that the two sides, the two proposals are more or less within spitting distance of one another," said Canary, director of ICPR.
"If anything is going to happen that gives us a shot at crafting a bill that actually can become a law, the House and the Senate have to sit down together, the key players have to sit down together and negotiate through these dozen or so differences."
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