Reform Now
Cross posted from ICPR's blog, The Race is On:
As the 94th GA prepares to hand over the gavels to the 95th GA and new statewide constitutionals are sworn in, there's more and more talk of what Illinois needs to do next. As they were sworn in this morning, some of the statewides noted the need for reform legislation, specifically pay to play proposals (not, alas, the governor; no, it was Comptroller Hynes and Treasurer Giannoulias who voiced the need for reform).
What's happening outside of the Capitol? Well:
The Decatur Herald & Review says: "THE STATE of Illinois needs to reform its campaign finance laws immediately." And that's just the lede. It goes on from there.
And the Bloomington Pantagraph ran a three-parter on how campaign finance drives public policy debates. First up, on Saturday, was an in depth look at legislative fundraising. They also ran an intriguing piece on how money gets
laundered through Illinois' political process. Yesterday's was on the growing roster of legislators and statewides who support reform. They're planning a fourth piece to run in February, after all the disclosure reports are filed later this month, summarizing issues with campaign finance.
In all, there promises to be a lot of good reading during the time when the legislature is waiting for the construction to end. Maybe our electeds will follow the stories.
2 comments:
I only see two realistic ways to bring any true reforms to this sorry excuse of a state. One is to have the US Attorneys indict and convict office-holders and political operatives by the hundreds, not by the handful.
Absent that, the only way you'll get these bastards to support true reforms is if a mob rises up and makes a few scumbags do the latest Saddam Hussein impression. Now I do not advocate violence, and I don't want any of these slimeballs turned into martyrs, with everyone forgetting how crooked and corrupt they truly were. But if you are expecting these pols to reform themselves, you are fooling yourself. and if you expect the voters to clean house here in Illinois, may I remind you that Rod blagojevich is enjoying his second Inaugural Ball tonight, and Toddler Stroger is showing the world just how much he cam screw up Cook County.
Let's implement full public financing of public elections in the State of Illinois. Elections should be about who has the best ideas, not the wealthiest friends. The Green Party is the only established party in the state that supports full public financing of public elections.
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