Dear Neighbor,
 
The ongoing corruption trial and recall amendment dominated the news and discussions in Springfield this week.  As you have likely seen in the news, the recall amendment did not pass the Senate, but an ethics bill that will ban pay-to-play politics in Illinois has been agreed to by both the House and Senate.
 
Recall Amendment (SJRCA70) and Impeachment

The proposed Constitutional Amendment for Recall needed 36 votes to pass out of the Senate, and failed with a vote of 33 yeses, 19 nos, and 2 presents.  I am alarmed at recent accusations in the federal government’s corruption case involving the Blagojevich Administration, including possibly the Governor himself, but I voted no on the recall amendment because it is unlikely to remove this Governor from office, is fundamentally bad public policy for Illinois, and the State already has a better mechanism – impeachment – to address wrong doing by our elected officials.
 
To begin with, passing a Recall Constitutional Amendment may not actually result in the removal of Gov. Blagojevich.  Whether the Recall Amendment can be retroactively applied to remove a sitting Governor from Office is an unresolved question of law.  Even if Governor Blagojevich is eligible to be recalled, it would involve many expensive and time consuming steps to actually execute a recall.  At the end of the day, angry voters might reduce his term by a matter of months, maybe a year.
 
Moreover, recall as a permanent part of the Illinois State Constitution overly politicizes future public policy discussions. Voters have regular opportunities to hold our elected officials accountable.  Recall is an anti-democratic mechanism that disenfranchises the planned and larger base of regular voters in favor of special interests that can threaten recall and the smaller vote totals associated with special elections.  More disturbingly, it will have a naturally chilling effect on politician’s willingness and ability to tackle important but potentially controversial issues (in an environment where our elected officials are already too hesitant to vote their consciences in my estimation).  Beyond these damaging public policy implications, recall is obviously expensive, time-consuming, and distracts our leaders from other vital concerns such as chronic budget problems.  Only 18 states provide for Recall of state elected officials.
 
The existing impeachment process can efficiently remove Governor Blagojevich from office if the illegal corruption charges that have been alleged are proven.  Unlike recall, impeachment has no chilling effect on the legal acts of future public officials.  Moreover, the existing procedures for impeachment can be carried out by the House and Senate at far less expense and in less time.  Impeachment is the tool to address wrongdoing; regular elections are the tool to vote out of office politicians with whom we are displeased.
 
As the newest State Democratic Senator in Illinois and a past supporter of Governor Blagojevich, I am saddened and troubled by recent public accusations that the Governor is guilty of vast public corruption.  I am certainly ready to conduct my Constitutional duties to determine if laws were broken by our Governor if the House votes to impeach him.
 
Banning Pay-to-Play Contracts in Illinois (HB824)

 
This week the Senate and the House reached agreement on a revised pay to play ethics Bill that will accomplish our goal of banning pay-to-play in the State (House Bill 824).  This bill:
 

• Bans political contributions from businesses that have contracts of $50,000 or more with any statewide officeholder (Governor, Lt. Governor, Secretary of State, Attorney General, Comptroller, or Treasurer) for a period of the officeholder’s term or two years after the end of the contract, whichever is longer;
• Bans political contributions from businesses to challengers for those statewide officers;
• Bans businesses with pending bids from making contributions during the entire bid process;
• Requires all businesses with contracts over $50,000 to register with the State Board of Elections before they can bid for a contract.  The State Board of Elections will maintain a searchable database that lists relevant political contributions by these businesses and their associates.

 
I am a chief sponsor of this Bill and believe it is an important step in improving the culture of corruption in Illinois. That said, I do believe it is just a step.  We have much further work to do, including placing limits on campaign contributions and requiring full disclosure by lobbyists regarding their contracts.

We have a great deal of work to change the culture of corruption that eptimizes Illinois government today. I will continue to advance sensible proposals that fight corruption and allow us to believe in the honor of government service again.