From the Chicago Sun-Times:

Letter to the Editor

Napping on ethics reform

June 12, 2003

Just how many federal indictments does it take before the Illinois General Assembly will enact tough laws governing the ethical conduct of state government? Apparently, 63 indictments and more investigations are not convincing enough.

The General Assembly has adjourned for the summer without passing legislation to create a system of inspectors general to investigate allegations of misconduct or creating ethics commissions to enforce codes of conduct.

When it comes to ethics reform, many legislators mouth all the right things during their election campaigns, but once in office, too many are speechless.

The Illinois House voted overwhelmingly in favor of a strong ethics package, but the Senate wouldn't touch it. Instead, the Senate passed a less substantial ethics bill (H.B. 3412) that included some important measures but cut out the heart of the reform legislation: the inspectors general and ethics commissions. The final General Assembly action resulted in a much weaker bill being sent to the governor.

Although H.B. 3412 is a far cry from what is needed in Illinois government, the governor should sign it. In spite of its shortcomings, it would mandate ethics training for all state employees, give state workers a clear definition of political activity prohibited while on the job, increase lobbying information available to the public and limit the ability of state officials to use state funds to promote themselves.

Those improvements should be signed into law, and Gov. Blagojevich and Attorney General Lisa Madigan should redouble their efforts to convince the General Assembly to pass the stronger reforms this fall.

Cynthia Canary, director,

Illinois Campaign for Political Reform