Senate approves ethics reforms
Measure expands on House bill
By RYAN KEITH
THE STATE JOURNAL-REGISTER
Posted Sep 24, 2008 @ 12:08 AM
A day after targeting Gov. Rod Blagojevich, the Illinois Senate reversed course Tuesday and overwhelmingly approved his broad ethics package despite opposition from reform advocates who predicted doom for the measure.
The Senate voted 50-1, with five “present” votes, for Senate Bill 780. It expands on House Bill 824, which senators approved Monday to limit political donations by some government contractors.
SB780 includes the broader ethics reforms Blagojevich put into HB824 — changes lawmakers then voted to reject, saying they should be in separate legislation. The governor’s reforms would change how lawmakers vote on pay raises, bar them from working in most other government jobs and require more disclosure of lobbying by legislators and their spouses.
Blagojevich praised the Senate after the vote.
“For the first time in Illinois’ modern history, a legislative body joined a governor to impose real and meaningful ethics reform on ourselves and lead by example,” Blagojevich said.
He said the House should take this “historic opportunity and pass this legislation now before the election” but did not say if he would call more special sessions as he did so this week if that didn’t happen.
A final vote in the House couldn’t take place Tuesday on SB780 because of constitutional requirements, and lawmakers went home until November later in the day. Asked later Tuesday if the House would take up the ethics issue, Speaker Michael Madigan responded: “We already have.”
He was referring to passage of HB824, which is now law.
Senators who pushed the governor’s proposal said lawmakers need to capitalize on the momentum of Monday’s ethics vote and go further to clean up Illinois government’s ugly reputation.
“We made major strides yesterday, and I want to continue that. I don’t think we should stop,” said Sen. James DeLeo, D-Chicago. “The door’s open, and let’s put integrity back into this chamber.”
But critics — including lawmakers who played a big role in developing HB824 — said the reforms in SB780 aren’t ready to be voted on.
Sen. Don Harmon, D-Oak Park, predicted it would go nowhere in the House in its current form. He said lawmakers would be wiser to negotiate an agreement instead of sending different bills between the two chambers.
“We should be rational about this. Let’s not repeat the mistakes of the past,” Harmon said.
Despite the complaining, the vast majority of the Senate supported SB780 — with the Nov. 4 election looming.
Sen. Mike Jacobs, D-East Moline, said the maneuvering was clearly designed to put the ethics pressure back on the House.
Jacobs again called on the governor to come clean on questions about ethical lapses in his administration.
“This is just a tit for tat. I think it’s wrong,” said Jacobs, who cast the only “no” vote.
Lawmakers also voted Tuesday on restoring more than $220 million in budget cuts before going home, not intending to return until the fall veto session unless Blagojevich brings them back.
In other legislative action:
    * The Senate revived a measure for at least the fourth time aimed at requiring insurance companies to cover treatment of autism disorders. But the House took no action on the idea.
    * The House killed off several ideas Blagojevich had put into bills through amendatory vetoes. Those Blagojevich ideas include barring state and local employees from making political donations to state officeholders and lawmakers, and requiring schools to develop policies to deal with students with food allergies.