Governor Blagojevich has finally acted on the campaign funding reform bill, HB 824.  The Governor greatly expanded the reach of the legislation using both amendatory veto and executive order powers. 

The original bill would have banned businesses with more than $50,000 in state contracts from making political donations to constitutional officers who award the contracts and candidates for those offices.

First, the Governor's amendatory would expand the original bill.  The original bill only banned political donations by state contractors to those officer holders that oversaw the contract.  The Governor's expanded this by executive order to ban political donations from ANY contractor with a contract worth $50,000 or more at any agency from giving to not only the Governor but all other statewide officeholder, lawmakers and political parties.  


Second the amendatory bill would prohibit "Dual Employment."  The amendatory veto states:

"No member of the General Assembly, during the term for which he has been elected or appointed may be employed by the State, a municipality, or unit of local government. This prohibition does not extend to employment as an elected official, firefighter, police officer, school counselor, teacher, or university instructor."

Third, the Governor's amendatory veto requires lawmakers to vote to approve a pay raise.  Currently, lawmakers pay raises go into affect unless they vote the raise down.


The Governor also rewrote SB 2190.  His rewrite would prohibit all government employees from making contributions to political campaigns.  The amendatory veto states:

"Any political committee established to promote the individual candidacy of a candidate for Governor, Lieutenant Governor, Attorney General, Secretary of State, Comptroller, Treasurer, or for membership in the General Assembly may not accept any contribution made by an employee of a State agency, or an employee of a municipality or unit of local government. Nothing in this Section shall prohibit an individual from making a contribution to a political committee established to promote his or her own candidacy for public office.  If a political committee receives a contribution in violation of this Section, then the State Board may assess a civil penalty up to $10,000 for each violation."
 
Kent Redfield, a campaign finance expert and political science professor at the University of Illinois at Springfield, told the State Journal Register that the governor's actions are unconstitutionally broad and designed simply to get headlines.

He said to call Blagojevich disingenuous would be "like saying Mount Everest is a small hill."  "It's so disproportionate and so wrong in terms of the basics of the process," Redfield said.

Cindi Canary, director of the Illinois Campaign for Political Reform, credited the administration for bringing the idea to the forefront but said she has real questions about the proposed ban.

She said barring state officials from taking donations from thousands of state and local employees could be a logistical nightmare in tracking donors' employers. She also said the pressure to donate isn't apparent when local government employees give money to their legislators or the comptroller, for example.

Background

HB 824 has awaited the Governor's action for months.  Many state officials, including Comptroller Dan Hynes, have urged the Governor to act on the bill.  Hynes criticized Blagojevich for accepting more than $300,000 in campaign contributions the first half of this year alone from holders of contracts worth at least $50,000.

Hynes has told the State Journal Register, it appears that Blagojevich wants to amend the ethics legislation and send it back to lawmakers in hopes that the revised version will die. "I don't think the governor is at all sincere in saying he wants to go further. They've spent the last three years trying to stop reform," Hynes said.

Browse Open Book, a searchable database of state contracts and contributions.
http://www.openbook.illinoiscomptroller.com/

Governor Vetoes One Percent Hotel Sales Tax Rate in East Peoria and Morton

 

 

Last Thursday Governor Blagojevich announced that 450 state workers will be laid off along with the closure of 12 historic sites and 11state parks.  The cuts come as a result of the $1.4 billion in cuts the Governor made to the fiscal year 2009 budget. 

Four departments will be hit with the lay offs, including 300 positions at the Department of Children and Family Services, 75 at the Department of Human Services, and another 75 from the Department of Natural Resources and the Historic Preservation Agency.

According to the State Journal Register (SJ-R), the lay offs will be effective December 1st.  The historic sites will close Oct. 1st and state parks Nov. 1st.