Sunshine on the table
Thursday, Feb 19, 2009 - Posted by Rich Miller
* Don’t hold your breath…
Illinois lawmakers hope to repair the state’s image after spending months as the punch line of late-night TV, spurred by jaw-dropping headlines involving a governor who allegedly tried to sell a U.S. Senate seat and his senate choice who has changed his account of how he got the appointment.
Democrats and Republicans say they’re serious about ethics reforms that could repair the public trust damaged by former Gov. Rod Blagojevich and now in question regarding Sen. Roland Burris.
Lawmakers from both chambers met Wednesday to kick off seven weeks of hearings with experts and the public who have ideas on improving the state’s ethics laws.
“Right now everything is fair game,” said Rep. Arthur Turner, a Chicago Democrat who sits on the special ethics committee. “It’s an answer to all the things that’s been happening over the last year.”
* Here’s why not everything is fair game…
If the public is hoping the latest confounding scandals in Illinois politics will prod major campaign finance reform, they are likely going to be disappointed.
That is if Senate President John Cullerton, a Chicago Democrat, has anything to say about. And he does.
Cullerton told the Daily Herald editorial board Monday he thinks Illinois’ wide-open campaign finance system is just fine and repeated the mantra of lawmakers who have long refused systemic change: disclosure, disclosure, disclosure.
* The goo-goos http://capitalfax.blogspot.com/2009/02/slay-monster.html“>react…
The state’s ethics troubles boil down to one thing: money, said Cindi Canary, director of the Chicago-based Illinois Campaign for Political Reform.
“These are interconnected issues,” Canary said. “If they don’t deal with campaign fiance reform, then they are sort of ignoring the tumor of the body politic.”
* Meanwhile, the governor’s ethics commission, which is operating separately from the GA’s committee, held a local hearing…
Could public financing of political campaigns be the silver bullet that stops the legacy of corruption in Illinois?
What about term limits for elected officials, an overhaul of the state’s Freedom of Information Act or changes to the government bidding process?
These and other options were among the possible salves discussed Wednesday night at Stevenson High School in Lincolnshire during the Illinois Reform Commission’s first public forum.
Four members of the commission, formed in January by then-Lt. Gov. Pat Quinn, spent the evening listening to comments and questions from the 100 or so people in the audience.
* I agree with AG Madigan that fines need to be increased. But only $1000? That’s not enough punishment…
Attorney General Lisa Madigan, who may run for governor in 2010, told the committee Wednesday she wants to slap governments with up to a $1,000 fine for denying citizens the right to view public documents under the Freedom of Information Act. The fine would help enforce current laws that currently go unpunished, she said.
“The current Freedom of Information Act is a toothless tiger,” David Bennett, executive director of the Illinois Press Association, told the committee. “People ignore it routinely and will continue to ignore it unless there are proper penalties built into the law.”
* Related…
* A cornfed remedy for Illinois graft
* Illinois attorney general calls for reforming Freedom of Information Act
* Slay the Monster
* Former fed Blakey gets top Cook County corruption-fighting post
- BGA Dave - Thursday, Feb 19, 09 @ 11:01 am:
If we don’t do anything to reform our campaign finance system, corruption in Illinois will never die. I will be deeply disappointed if President Cullerton sticks with that position.
- BigDog - Thursday, Feb 19, 09 @ 11:14 am:
BGA Dave has it right on the nose. Until the pols in office get serious about implementing campaign finance reform, I will not believe one word out of their mouths about ethics. The voters need to recognize this issue and vote in nominees who make it a rock solid campaign promise to push for this reform.
- Amy - Thursday, Feb 19, 09 @ 11:18 am:
if you represent the Lakefront people automatically believe you are a reformer. Cullerton shows with this statement that this is not actually the case.
- wordslinger - Thursday, Feb 19, 09 @ 11:27 am:
I saw on the news last night that Chicago building or property owners can be fined $10,000 a day for allowing a billboards or commercials signs without a permit.
A $1,000 for violating FOIA? That tiger still would be toothless.
- yinn - Thursday, Feb 19, 09 @ 11:29 am:
The FOIA fine is a start and in line with penalties for violating the Open Meetings Act. As I understand it, currently there are no penalties for FOIA violations except for plaintiffs who prevail in court to recoup attorneys’ fees and court costs. OMA has a $1500 fine and potential jail time.
http://www.illinoisattorneygeneral.gov/government/openmeet.pdf
http://www.illinoisattorneygeneral.gov/government/FOIA_guide.pdf
- BannedForLife - Thursday, Feb 19, 09 @ 1:04 pm:
“$1000? That’s not enough punishment”
OK, maybe not in & of itself, but a $1K fine, with a website listing fines levied, and fines outstanding, totalled by govt agency would be a powerful incentive to compliance
- The Doc - Thursday, Feb 19, 09 @ 1:07 pm:
I sincerely hope Cullerton “clarifies” his position. The need for serious campaign finance reform is obvious, and suggesting otherwise is laughable.
I also hope that this committee or the governor’s reform roundtable tackles redistricting. If either fail to do so, IMHO, it’s a big red flag that these folks are all fizz and no gin.
- VanillaMan - Thursday, Feb 19, 09 @ 3:06 pm:
When campaign financing laws change, the crooks simply change too - but the goal remains the same; win at all costs regardless of the quality of the candidates or their abilities to do the jobs once in office.
A cheaper crook is still a crook, so changing the campaign financing laws will not end corruption.
Illinois’ political corruption is protected by the political parties that do not care about the quality of their candidates. They only care about winning, regardless of the campaign financing rules.
Parties used to stand for something. A nomination used to be a testament to a candidate’s abilities and values. Not anymore. Republicans search for high rolling mercenaries to self-finance winning campaigns, while Democrats go with their family members and connected friends.
Look at it! For heaven’s sake, did anyone actually believe that Todd Stroger was the best person to become the Cook County Board President? Did anyone believe that Lisa Madigan was qualified to become Attorney General? Did anyone really believe that Dick Mell’s do-nothing son-in-law could be governor?
We will not change this culture until the political parties change. Voters are not to blame when they have to choose between the products of two win-at-all-costs political parties.
There is no future for Illinois with the current political party leadership in place.
- Ghost - Thursday, Feb 19, 09 @ 3:17 pm:
FOIA fines are a horrible horrible idea. AFter all who pays for those fines? taxpayers. It just comes out of the government budget. The people refusing to turn over the records are not going to care that the public has to shell out 100, 1,000, or even 10,000 in cash of tax payer dollars from a government account for failing to comply.
Make a real penalty, allow the court to hold individuals in contempt of court for fialure to comply and allow the court to jail the head/heads of the government bodies in violation of FOIA until a trequst is complied with. That would get you complaince.
- yinn - Thursday, Feb 19, 09 @ 3:54 pm:
Ghost, OMA provides for jail sentences up to 30 days for violators. Why wouldn’t fines for OMA or the proposed fines for FOIA apply to individuals as well?
- BannedForLife - Thursday, Feb 19, 09 @ 4:01 pm:
Whatever $ amt you pick, some will say it’s too small and others will point out that govt money is taxpayer money. So think of the $ amt not such much as pain but as compensating an asst. AG for a couple-few hours reviewing a FOIA request & denial complaint.
Let’s try this: give an administrator the power to levy fines. It could work something like this:
a citizen or journalist files a FOIA request,
waits the required 10 business days,
if the agency responds in writing w/i the 10 days with a denial letter including the reason and describing the appeal process like they are supposed to, then the requester has to try the appeal, if not, or after the appeal is denied …
requester files a complaint with the AG’s office (including the request letter & denial letter, if any, being totally ignore constituting denial)
AG reviews the correspondence and levies fine and posts agency name and a brief description of request goes online (most often the review will be straight-forward because the denial letters in Illinois are so bad or the legitimacy of the request is so obvious that little or no additional research is required)
no one will want to top that leader board
- Ghost - Thursday, Feb 19, 09 @ 4:36 pm:
yinn, in theory you could, but who do you fine? and how do you keep the fine from being covered under various employee indemenifcation statutes for governemtn workers. The majority of judgments and fines against government officals are paid out of government coffers.
Also no individual has possesion of the records. they are the property of the government agencies. So monetary fines based upon the hanling of the records were come from the record owners.
- Amuzing Myself - Thursday, Feb 19, 09 @ 5:55 pm:
Campaign Finance Reform might be part of a larger solution, but nothing more. Maybe if you limit the amount of “transfers in/out” from point A to point B INCLUDING the leaders’ committees, something might happen. Good luck with that.
A real map and regular turnover amongst the “four tops” is the only way you’re really going to see any real change. You can change all the finance laws you want, and motivated people will still find ways around the laws - as they always have.
The fundamental problem in Illinois is the concentration of power in legislative leaders like Mike Madigan and Emil Jones. They get that power from entrenching themselves so deeply and controlling both the legislative agenda and the campaigns of virtually every member in their chamber where it matters.
They may have a rough time here and there with their caucus, but for the most part, they get what they want, and they don’t have to negotiate all that much because they control their chambers so tightly.
OK. There’s the soapbox again. Done for a while.
- SIUPROF - Thursday, Feb 19, 09 @ 7:08 pm:
Make the official responsible for the refusal to disclose after a proper request personally liable for attorney fees if the court rules against that official. An official would think long and hard before refusing a request.