St. Louis Post Dispatch

Ill. lawmakers reach agreement on reforms
By Kevin McDermott
POST-DISPATCH SPRINGFIELD BUREAU
05/01/2008SPRINGFIELD, Ill. — With an agreement announced Wednesday, a ban on campaign donations from state contractors could pass the Illinois Legislature within the next two weeks, potentially outlawing a practice that has put millions of dollars in Gov. Rod Blagojevich's campaign coffers.
"There's a good chance it may be snowing in hell right now," joked state Rep. John Fritchey, D-Chicago, who has pushed the ban for three years — as Illinoisans have watched one governor sent to prison, and another under federal scrutiny, over allegations of "pay-to-play" state contracting.
The new legislation would outlaw donations from major state contractors to the elected officials who control their contracts. After weeks of sometimes contentious negotiations, Fritchey and more than a dozen other legislators from both parties announced an agreement that seems to all but guarantee the measure will reach Blagojevich's desk before the end of May.
Blagojevich has hinted he might veto or alter the bill on grounds that it doesn't go far enough to reform campaign finance. Critics say that's a stalling tactic to protect a practice that's at the core of Blagojevich's unprecedented fundraising success.

The agreement announced Wednesday included an unusual public guarantee from key lawmakers that if Blagojevich vetoes or changes the bill, both chambers will conduct veto override votes to press it into law.
"I give my commitment … that we pass it as is, and we do not allow anything to happen to it," vowed Sen. Debbie Halvorson, D-Crete, the Senate's majority leader and top lieutenant of Senate President Emil Jones, D-Chicago. "… Nobody else can come back and say, 'We've got some ideas to make it better.'"
Jones, a Blagojevich ally, has been cool toward the legislation in the past. Halvorson's public vow to get it approved without changes appeared to be a signal that Jones won't stand in the way of it. Jones' office declined to specify what position he will take, but he did have staff participating in the announcement Wednesday.
House passage of the measure is virtually guaranteed, based on past votes there.
The legislation would make it illegal for state contractors who hold (or are bidding on) $50,000 or more worth of state work to give political donations to the state officials who hold those contracts, or to anyone running for that office. Violators would see their state contracts voided.
The measure also would ban contributions from anyone who owns 7.5 percent or more of a company that is doing business with the state. The ban would apply to members of that person's immediate family as well.
"This will really … send a signal that we're done with playing games," said Cynthia Canary, head of the Illinois Campaign for Political Reform, which has backed the bill. "… Contracts should be awarded based on the best price, the best quality of service, and not who you know or who you contribute to."
Blagojevich's office didn't respond to a request for comment late Wednesday afternoon. Earlier this week, a spokeswoman reiterated Blagojevich's position that the bill "does not go far enough."
Blagojevich could sign the bill into law, veto it completely, or "amendatorily" veto it, by adding or removing provisions. If he does that, the bill would have to go back to both chambers of the Legislature, to either accept the changes he has made, override those changes and put the original bill into law, or let it die.
The bill now moves into the Senate committee process.
The issue of political contributions from state contractors long has been a controversial one in Illinois, which has no campaign donation restrictions. Former Gov. George Ryan is serving a federal prison term for crimes that included steering state contracts to major campaign contributors. Testimony in the current federal trial of Blagojevich fundraiser Antoin "Tony" Rezko has included allegations of similar activities within the Blagojevich administration, though Blagojevich himself hasn't been charged.
A recent Post-Dispatch analysis of about 50 of the top service contractors in the state found that fully half of them are major Blagojevich donors.
The bill is HB824.