From the New York Times:
Lawmakers in Illinois Make Ethics Top Priority
By SUSAN SAULNY
Published: September 24, 2008
CHICAGO — In this state with a history of corruption at the highest levels of government and little history of meaningful reform, lawmakers and the governor have embarked on a sudden, surprising scurry to enact ethics legislation this week.
And while Illinois should soon have at least one new ethics law on its books as a result, a backbiting political drama has come along with it, exposing questionable maneuvering in what state officials themselves call one of the most dysfunctional state governments in the nation.
On Monday, the State Senate voted unanimously to overturn Gov. Rod R. Blagojevich’s veto of a bill that barred companies seeking or holding state contracts worth more than $50,000 from making campaign contributions to top elected officials who control contracts, like the governor.
The law, three years in the making, takes aim at “pay-to-play” politics, in which companies are expected to donate money to politicians in order to work for the state, a longstanding affliction here.
The veto override was a strong rebuke to aspects of Mr. Blagojevich’s administration that became public in the recent corruption trial of Antoin Rezko, one of the governor’s top fund-raisers and a former patron of Senator Barack Obama. Even before the trial, Mr. Blagojevich’s administration was embroiled in a federal investigation into hiring fraud in several departments.
Mr. Obama, ever aware of Illinois’ reputation, is credited with spurring the State Senate to action, with a phone call to its leader last week urging swift movement of the bill. The override of the veto passed, 55 to 0. That bill is to become law in the new year.
Mr. Blagojevich, a Democrat, technically did not veto the bill outright, but rather added his own ethical reform measures to it. Those measures then became the basis for the governor’s own new ethics legislation.
On Tuesday, the Senate overwhelmingly approved Mr. Blagojevich’s bill, which focuses more on them than on him and was essentially a repackaged version of what they had heartily rejected on Monday.
Many in and out of Springfield were left scratching their heads.
“It was like being in ‘The Twilight Zone,’ ” said Cynthia Canary, director of the Illinois Campaign for Political Reform, who has long advocated for a ban on political contributions from contractors. “It’s really a kind of study in state meltdown.”
Given the public’s appetite for ethics reform, some lawmakers who disagreed with the Blagojevich-backed bill said they had voted for it anyway so as not to have to explain rejecting any kind of reform to voters.
Further, some said they were certain that it would die in the House, where the leader, John A. Fritchey, chief sponsor of the original bill, is openly disdainful of the governor.
“To vote against it, I’d be explaining that forever,” said Senator Rickey R. Hendon, a Democrat who voted to override the governor’s veto and for the governor’s reform package. “I don’t want to deal with any of that.”
“We’re confusing everybody,” he added. “That’s the way they play the game here in Illinois.”
Mr. Fritchey, a Democrat, predicts a certain death for Mr. Blagojevich’s package, which includes heightened lobbying disclosure requirements, a ban on legislators working other government jobs and a requirement that legislators affirmatively vote for their own pay raises.
“The vote by the Senate was a convenient political dodge that allowed Illinois senators to tell their constituents that they voted for a supposedly stronger ethics bill despite knowing that what they passed will never become law,” Mr. Fritchey said. “It’s not only poorly drafted but frankly unconstitutional.”
Mr. Fritchey and others did say that they thought some of the governor’s ideas had merit, just not in their present form.
But Mr. Blagojevich does not see it that way. “Regardless of what they think the motives are, most people would agree with what the results and effect is,” said his spokesman, Lucio Guerrero. “I don’t think anyone would say there’s enough ethics law in Illinois.”