Real Reform?

I'm still thinking "I'll believe it when I see it" about campaign finance reform in Illinois, but it sure sounds like House Speaker Mike Madigan and Senate President John Cullerton are willing to make a more serious effort than it seemed last week. As I told you last week, under legislation proposed by the Senate Dems last week, candidates could get no more than $5,000 a year from individual donors and $10,000 a year from labor unions, corporations and other political committees. Political funds run by the state political parties and legislative leaders would have higher limits: $10,000 a year from individuals and $20,000 a year from other political committees.

At the time, many criticized the plan because it would not limit how much money parties and legislative leaders could transfer from their own campaign funds to individual candidates. Now, Madigan and Cullerton say they plan to limit those transfers. The sponsor of the Senate Dems' campaign finance bill, Sen. Don Harmon (D-Oak Park) says the precise level of the transfer limits is still under negotiation, but he hopes to have an agreement in place by tomorrow, when the Senate Executive Committee is expected to debate several government reform measures.

Patrick Collins, the chairman of Gov. Pat Quinn's Illinois Reform Commission will be at that hearing and he's been pushing for limits on such transfers, so it will be interesting to see how things go at that hearing. If Madigan and Cullerton follow through with an actual agreement on limiting transfers between campaign committees, will the limits be low enough to satisfy Collins and other government watchdogs? Obviously, it's too early to say.

The Senate Executive Committee should also be taking up a bill to rewrite the state's Freedom of Information Act. Not surprisingly, the measure would exempt lawmakers from many of the provisions requiring disclosure of public records. Even so, it sounds like the proposal that will be discussed tomorrow should be a better alternative than one floated last week. The House has already approved the rewrite, so it could go to the governor by tomorrow night.