July 9, 2007

In This Issue:

  • Pay-to-Play Still in Play
  • Sausage Factory Looks Good By Comparison
  • New Primary Date Means New Campaign Finance Deadlines

Pay-to-Play Still in Play
Legislation intended to limit the influence of big campaign contributors has passed the Illinois House twice this spring, but the Illinois Senate has not voted on either bill.  Thanks to the budget impasse, the General Assembly is still in session, and the issue remains in play. 

House Bill 1 was the first pay-to-play bill sent to the Senate, and it has 45 Senate sponsors.  More recently, the House added pay-to-play language through an amendment to Senate Bill 1305, and sent that bill back to the Senate.  Both bills would prohibit business owners with more than $25,000 in state contracts from making campaign contributions to officeholders awarding the contracts.

Sponsors of the bills are in discussions with supporters and the Senate President’s staff.   As long as the General Assembly is in session this summer, the passage of meaningful pay-to-play legislation is still within the realm of possibilities.   If you haven’t contacted Senate President Emil Jones to let him know how important it is to pass one of these bills, this would be a good time to call or write a letter.

Sausage Factory Looks Good By Comparison
Pay-to-play is on a long list of “things to do” that just have not gotten done in Springfield.  We’re well into a new fiscal year and still do not have an approved budget to operate state government.

Cynthia Canary, Director of the Illinois Campaign for Political Reform, has some thoughts how to avoid this gridlock in the future, and you can read them in this week’s Crain’s Chicago Business.  Go here.

New Primary Date Means New Campaign Finance Deadlines
Moving the date of the state’s primary was one of the few things the General Assembly and the governor did agree on this spring.  The 2008 primary will be held on Feb. 5, instead of the traditional third Tuesday in March.   Legislation changing the primary date also changes the deadline for filing campaign contribution reports.  For many years, we’ve waited until the end of July to see who gave money to candidate committees in the first six months of the year.  This year, those reports must be filed by July 20.

 

ICPR Spotcheck is a publication of The Illinois Campaign for Political Reform, a non-partisan public interest group that educates, conducts research, and advocates reforms to promote public participation in government, address the role of money in politics, and encourage integrity, accountability, and transparency in government.

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