Drop the charade: Pass a real election reform law

from the Chicago Sun-Times, Aug. 28, 2009 You want to understand how cynical Illinois politics can get? Look no further than Gov. Quinn's news conference on Thursday on the campaign finance reform bill. This bill was supposed to curb the influence of money in Illinois politics. You might have heard we've had a bit of a problem with that recently. In reality, the bill was a fraud, but that didn't stop leading state politicians from praising it -- at first. A few months ago, Quinn had called it a "landmark." House Speaker Mike Madigan and Senate President John Cullerton lauded it too, and of course they liked it because it ignored real reform and actually increased their power, a trick that would have made Machiavelli smile. But that was the past. On Thursday, the Twilight Zone came to the State of Illinois building. At the news conference there, the political leaders of our state said, with a straight face, that the campaign finance reform bill was good. But gosh, it could be better. So Madigan and Cullerton asked Quinn to veto it. That way, lawmakers could start from scratch and deliver an even better reform bill during the October veto session. Again, straight-faced. In fact, a key reason the bill failed to receive the governor's signature is because the people of Illinois wouldn't stand for it. The people who called their state lawmakers about their failure to enact real campaign finance reform. The people who railed in e-mails. The people who showed they aren't the dupes the politicians think they are. Fine work, people of Illinois, but your job isn't over. We're not optimistic real campaign finance reform is coming. Quinn's veto leaves the future of the bill to the very people who gutted it. You may have to hit the phone line or the Internet one more time. We'll keep you posted. When Quinn and the legislative leaders were asked how the bill could be improved, they ran from the question. So allow us to offer an answer. A good campaign finance reform bill must: • Follow the federal model and put meaningful caps on campaign donations, not ones so high they're meaningless. • Close the loophole that would still allow Madigan and Cullerton to effectively buy all the radio and television time and mailings they want for beholden candidates. • Eliminate the newly created constituent services fund for lawmakers -- essentially slush funds. • Beef up candidate reporting requirements and give regulators more power. Anything less, and it won't be much reform.