Time right for state ethics reform
Daily Herald Reports
Posted on April 09, 2002

Will Illinois' public officials be scared straight by last week's federal indictment of Gov. George Ryan's gubernatorial campaign committee?

Some observers told Daily Herald reporter Shamus Toomey last week they think U.S. Attorney Patrick Fitzgerald's use of racketeering laws to indict Ryan's committee will make other candidates think twice. Think twice about using employees to do campaign work on the public's time. Think twice about fudging on the use of public money for election purposes. Think twice about any false move that an aggressive prosecutor could construe as an act of official corruption.

The indictment of Ryan's committee and two top campaign aides undoubtedly has grabbed the attention of all the state's public officials. In the short term, at least, the indictments may well motivate officials to avoid scrupulously the misuse of their staffs or public money for political purposes.

But memories can be short, and the scare produced by an indictment can wear off as time goes by. That's why several reform-minded organizations - such as the League of Women Voters and the Illinois Campaign for Political Reform - are using the occasion of last week's indictments to press state legislators for stronger ethics laws.

An umbrella group called the Illinois Ethics Reform Project is lobbying for:

• a ban on solicitation of campaign funds by government employees and appointees from anyone they supervise, regulate or license;

• a ban on public employees and elected officials accepting gifts from those seeking to influence public business;

• full disclosure on the use of public resources;

• ongoing ethics training for government officials and employees;

• a state commission that would investigate and rule on ethics-related complaints.

These are all reasonable measures that merit approval. It's not that the presence of additional ethics laws would be sufficient to ensure clean government. But these measures express values concerning good government and would put the force of law behind those values.

And perhaps these measures are just as important in one other regard. By passing these additional ethics laws, the Legislature would express a seriousness of purpose concerning corruption that over the years has been sadly conspicuous by its absence in Illinois. The state is far too widely known, and for good reason, as a place where backroom deal-making, cronyism and questionable ethics often trump open and above-board government.

The House has passed bills that include some of these suggested reforms, but the measures have stalled in the Senate. Let's see lawmakers act this session to put these measures into law and make a stand for ethical state government.