From The State Journal-Register:

State needs to reform its ethics laws

THE U.S. SENATE ETHICS COMMITTEE's discipline of New Jersey Sen. Robert Torricelli is one more reminder of how behind the times Illinois is in dealing seriously with the trading of gifts and campaign donations for influence.

Torricelli was "severely admonished" for taking a series of lavish gifts from David Chang, who went to prison for giving the senator illegal campaign contributions. The loot from Chang allegedly included 12 Italian suits, diamond earrings, a cashmere coat, a 42-inch TV, a stereo, $9,200 Rolex watch and $4,000 to buy a grandfather clock at an antique store.

Not to mention more than a dozen home deliveries of campaign cash that helped land Chang an 18-month prison sentence.

WHILE THE SENATE DISCIPLINE - a stern letter from the Ethics Committee - was a slap on the wrist compared to the prison time Chang got, it is probably quite a bit more than would happen if the exchange had taken place in Illinois

Illinois' modest attempts at reform - the 1998 Gift Ban Act - is riddled with loopholes and has been under a legal cloud since fall 2000, when a Will County judge ruled it unconstitutionally vague. The Illinois Supreme Court reinstated the law in May, ruling the elected officials who challenged it had no standing to do so. But the question of constitutionality was sidestepped and could be raised again.

SPURRED BY EMBARRASSING revelations emerging last spring in the ever-widening licenses-for-bribes scandal, the legislature made a brief show of debating ethical reforms, including a package pushed by House GOP Leader Lee Daniels. That package called for stricter gift bans, prohibiting the soliciting of public employees at either the state or local level for political activities and creating a powerful ethical oversight board.

The House, in fact, passed some of the reforms, which stalled in the Senate.

The only reform that passed both Houses was a more modest amendment to the Gift Ban Act. Overshadowed by the louder end-of-session debate over the state budget, the bill would place a new limit of $100 in gifts in a calendar year from any single source. Of more potential consequence is a ban on soliciting campaign contributions by employees of certain state and local offices from individuals or entities they regulate.

THAT COMMON-SENSE PROVISION is in direct response to the bribes that federal investigators have proven were routinely solicited by scores of former secretary of state employees from people seeking drivers' licenses, low-number license plates and other favors from the agency under then-Secretary of State George Ryan.

That measure is awaiting now-Governor Ryan's signature.

While it is only one small step toward cleaning up the besmirched ethical reputation of the state, it's one we hope Ryan will take.