From the State Journal Register

Blagojevich signs ethics bill

By MIKE RAMSEY COPLEY NEWS SERVICE CHICAGO -

Gov. Rod Blagojevich on Tuesday signed highly touted ethics legislation during an elaborate ceremony that veiled the political strife surrounding the bill's creation. Fourteen speakers from both political parties were on hand to share credit in the good-government measure, which state lawmakers passed during their November veto session after weeks of needling from Democrat Blagojevich. The bill creates inspectors general for all statewide officers and the General Assembly, ethics commissions to monitor the executive and legislative branches and imposes a variety of new restrictions on officials, political advisers and lobbyists. The legislation was widely praised as an antidote to the corruption and unseemly practices that have long plagued Illinois politics. "Today, I am signing a bill into law that finally gives Illinois revolutionary ethics reform," Blagojevich said. "We are not just tinkering at the edges, tweaking here and tightening there. Today we are re-establishing the primacy of principle over politics, and in Illinois that constitutes real change." During the 45-minute event in downtown Chicago, the governor was joined onstage by most of the state's constitutional officers - Republican Treasurer Judy Baar Topinka was absent - and co-sponsoring lawmakers, including Senate President Emil Jones, D-Chicago. Jones offered the only hint of discord as he defended an ethics package from the spring legislative session that Blagojevich vetoed for purportedly being too weak. Jones said it always was his intention to approve a more comprehensive bill during the veto session. "We did not water it down. We didn't have time to deal with it," he said. House Minority Leader Tom Cross, R-Oswego, credited the governor for having "an incredible ability to keep things going in the media" - a reference to Blagojevich's public goadings of lawmakers. The General Assembly last month overrode the governor's veto on the earlier ethics bill he had criticized, but members also passed the second, stronger measure after legislative leaders and Blagojevich agreed on its contents. Some of the provisions will:

* Establish ethics commissions for statewide offices and the legislature.

* Establish inspectors general for the General Assembly and constitutional offices that currently don't have in-house investigators; the "IGs" would have subpoena powers.

* Prohibit lobbyists or their spouses from serving on state boards and commissions, effective Feb. 1.

* Impose a $75 daily spending limit for lobbyists who buy state officials food and drinks. It also bans lobbyists from paying for golf and tennis for lawmakers, a practice that was allowed under the previous law.

* For one year, bar state employees from working for companies they regulate or to which they award contracts.

* Obligate the unpaid advisers of statewide officers to file economic-disclosure forms if they represent an officer in state business.

Some Republicans demanded the requirement in response to a Blagojevich adviser getting involved with negotiations within the Illinois Gaming Board. "I think that this is going to be really revolutionary in Illinois," said Cindy Canary, executive director of Illinois Campaign for Political Reform, who attended the bill signing. "I think now the job of organizations like mine is to make sure that the intent of the law is really hewn to and its potential is lived up to." A few of Tuesday's speakers invoked the "licenses-for-bribes" scandal that hounded Republican Gov. George Ryan and gave Blagojevich a pungent campaign issue in 2002. An ongoing federal investigation into Ryan's eight-year tenure as secretary of state has yielded 59 corruption-related convictions and has circled closer to the now-retired Ryan. He has not been charged. House Speaker Michael Madigan, a Chicago Democrat who has a strained relationship with Blagojevich, did not attend Tuesday's ceremony. Madigan spokesman Steve Brown said the speaker had "other things going on" but praised the ethics package. Topinka also had previous commitments, a spokeswoman said. Senate Minority Leader Frank Watson, R-Greenville, also did not attend.