From the Decatur Herald & Review

(Editorial):State took big step in ethics reform
 
By the H&R Editorial Staff 
 
IT TOOK concerns over presidential politics to make it happen, but the General Assembly on Monday finally passed the long-awaited ethics reform bill.
 
As of Jan. 1, state officials will no longer be able to accept campaign contributions from business with state contracts greater than $50,000. In addition, businesses will not be allowed to contribute to candidates for state officials.
 
The measure, which was approved 55-0 in the Senate, overrides Gov. Rod Blagojevich's veto of the bill. The governor's proposals for reform were approved by the Senate Executive committee and will be considered as separate legislation.
 
Even though the governor received only one vote in the House and none in the Senate, he was still claiming that his proposals were "real reform" after the vote. "The General Assembly didn't really move the ball forward."
 
But the law will curtail what has become known as "pay to play" politics in Illinois. A St. Louis Post-Dispatch survey recently found that at least half of the largest contractors in the state had contributed to the Blagojevich campaign. The practice, as unseemly as it is, has been going on for years. Gov. George Ryan is serving a federal prison term primarily because he promised state contracts in exchange for contributions.
 
Blagojevich has not been accused of wrongdoing in the matter, but his campaign has raised millions of dollars from state contractors.
 
This spring, the House and Senate approved the ethics reform bill. Blagojevich, saying the bill didn't go far enough, vetoed the bill. He issued an executive order banning the contributions from state contractors, although critics argued that an executive order doesn't have the force of law. In his veto, Blagojevich added that all legislators should be covered by the contribution ban, that the practice of having legislators also work for another governmental body should be outlawed and he proposed more straight-forward requirements for approval of legislative pay raises. Many argued that the governor's veto was intended to make the law so unattractive legislators would not vote for it.
 
The proposals made by Blagojevich should be given serious consideration in the legislature. The General Assembly does need to be more straight forward about pay raises, and good arguments can be made to end what is known as "double-dipping."
 
In a special session a few weeks ago, the House voted to override the governor's veto. Sen. President Emil Jones, D-Chicago, had said the Senate would not take up the bill until the General Assembly's veto session, scheduled after the November election. Many reformers believed that Jones was trying to kill the bill for his ally Blagojevich.
 
A call from Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama convinced Jones to call the Senate back into session to consider the bill. Obama has been criticized by his opponents for his connection to the corrupt Chicago machine, and Obama didn't want Jones' delay to create future problems.
 
Whatever the politics that made it happen, and despite what the governor says, the General Assembly took a huge step toward ethical reform Monday.