From the St. Louis Post Dispatch

Illinois: Finally reform?
06/02/2008

Illinois Auditor General William Holland has been poking his nose into Gov. Rod Blagojevich's Office of Management and the Budget. What he found smells distinctly fishy.
Mr. Holland reported last week that the OMB had issued no-bid contracts, awarded contracts to someone other than the best bidder and issued other contracts for which bid evaluation documents mysteriously disappeared.
For instance, there were two contracts awarded for legal services worth a total of at least $90,000. The governor's budget office never put them out for bid, as required by law. Instead, they went to firms that contributed a combined $78,000 to Mr. Blagojevich's campaigns.
That's business as usual in Illinois government, where the rule is "pay to play." If you want a state contract, it doesn't hurt to spread money around among politicians, especially those who directly issue the contracts.Mr. Blagojevich's campaign has reaped millions of dollars in contributions from state contractors and their executives, the auditor found. A survey of just two dozen large state contractors turned up at least $1 million in contributions to Mr. Blagojevich, and that doesn't count payments made by company executives.
As long as there is no direct quid pro quo — this much money for this particular contract — it's all perfectly legal. The result is legalized corruption practiced by wink and nod.
The audit hit the headlines as jurors in Chicago continue deliberations in the pay-for-play trial of Tony Rezko, a Blagojevich friend and fundraiser.
Prosecutors say Mr. Rezko used his clout with the governor to stack state boards and commissions. Then, they charge, Mr. Rezko schemed to extract bribes from supplicants before the commissions.
Testimony in the long-running trial lifted the curtain on a seamy system in which state jobs and contracts are dispensed to and through those who hand cash to politicians. Mr. Blagojevich's name was mentioned repeatedly, although he has not been charged with any wrongdoing.
The spectacle of the trial, coming hard on the heels of the corruption conviction of former Gov. George Ryan, finally embarrassed the Legislature into taking action. On Saturday night, shortly before this year's session adjourned, the House gave unanimous approval to a Senate-passed bill that would forbid politicians who control state contracts from accepting donations from firms or employees of firms with state contracts worth more than $50,000.
Mr. Blagojevich now has a problem. He rode into Springfield in 2002 vowing to be a reformer. But apparently he has cynical plans to kill the pay-to-play bill.
He may try to kill it with kindness. His office says the bill doesn't go far enough in limiting contributions. He may send it back to legislators with an "amendatory veto," a gimmick that lets the governor change a bill in a way the General Assembly won't accept. He might, for instance, amend it to limit contributions to legislators as well as contributions to office holders with control over state contracts.
That wouldn't be a bad idea. The lack of any campaign contribution limits allows special interests to buy favors from legislators the way contractors buy state contracts. But lawmakers are loath to limit their own goodies, as Mr. Blagojevich knows full well.
Mr. Blagojevich has done a lot of good for the people of Illinois, from raising the minimum wage to his relentless efforts to expand health care for those with no coverage. But his ravenous appetite for campaign funds threatens to destroy his legacy. To salvage it, Rod Blagojevich, the king of pay-to-play, should play the Nixon-to-China card and sign the reform bill.