From The Chicago Sun-Times:

Religious leaders back ethics bill

April 23, 2002

BY SCOTT FORNEK POLITICAL REPORTER

Top Protestant, Jewish and Muslim religious leaders joined campaign watchdog groups Monday to call on state Senate President James "Pate" Philip to move on an ethics bill they say could have prevented the license-for-bribes scandal.

"It is an ethical matter when the voice of the public is brazenly ignored by muzzle by one public official," said Bishop C. Joseph Sprague, head of the Northern Illinois Conference of the United Methodist Church. "We call for action now on behalf of the public interest in Illinois.

"We urge state Senate President James 'Pate' Philip to act in the public good--not just the Protestant good, not just the Jewish good, but in the public good."

Anthony Simpkins, executive board member of the Council of Islamic Organizations of Greater Chicago, said "we are obviously very concerned about standards of justice and fairness and ethics in government.

"As a significant minority community we are also concerned that this bill represents an effort to level the playing field, to elevate the voices of those without political influence and money."

The bill has been buried in the Senate Rules Committee for nearly a year. It seeks to replace an earlier ethics law that a Will County judge struck down as unconstitutional. Now before the state Supreme Court, the original law included such measures as mandating electronic filing of campaign finance reports and banning elected officials and government employees from accepting gifts from those seeking to influence public business.

Philip's office said the bill can't move until the state's top court rules.

"Until you find out what the court finds objectionable, it's difficult to enact any supposed fix to that legislation," said Patty Schuh, spokeswoman for the Wood Dale Republican. "And the Supreme Court may not find it objectionable at all, and the law would stand."

But the religious leaders argue the new bill, which passed the House with the support of co-sponsors House Speaker Michael J. Madigan and House Minority Leader Lee Daniels, includes more sweeping provisions--most notably a ban on state employees soliciting campaign contributions from those they supervise, regulate or license.

The clerics said the indictments earlier this month of Gov. Ryan's campaign fund and two of his former top campaign officials for allegedly using state workers and public resources for political purposes underscore the need for such legislation.

"Integrity is at stake when supervisors are allowed to solicit their employees for campaign funds," Sprague said. "It is a betrayal of the public trust when state workers are expected to work on political campaigns rather than doing their work of carrying out public responsibilities."

Rabbi Ellen W. Dreyfus, president of the Chicago Board of Rabbis, said: "It is not solely a verbal nicety that we refer to our elected officials as public servants. They are there to serve the public, not line their own pockets and those of their friends and associates."

Schuh said Philip does not support the ban on contributions from state employees.

"I am a state employee," Schuh said. "I'm entitled to participate in the political process if I so chose. Obviously, we don't support coercion or enforced solicitations. But just because you work for the state should not bar you from participating."

But Cindi Canary, executive director of the Illinois Campaign for Political Reform, who stood with the religious leaders at the Chicago Temple of the First United Methodist Church, shrugged off that argument.

"Clearly we want to have engaged civil servants, but what we want them engaged in is the public's business, the concerns of the public, the concerns of all of the people represented up here--and not necessarily in the political future of any particular player."