DuPage panel looks at campaign finance reform

With a green light from legal counsel, the DuPage County Board's government transparency and accessibility committee raised the specter of campaign finance reform Tuesday.

Assistant State's Attorney Anna Harkins said the board could limit or eliminate campaign contributions to county board members from vendors who do business with the county. That would not violate state election laws, she said.

County board member and committee Chairman Jeff Redick said, "I would anticipate something of a recommendation, and based on the discussion about limitation, I would suspect it would go that way."

Currently, the county has no prohibition against companies donating to board members or Chairman Robert Schillerstrom.

Harkins said the county's campaign financing laws are on par with the state's. The only type of campaign contribution reporting law used by the county provides that companies or individuals who receive no-bid contracts and have donated more than $1,000 to county board members' campaigns are required to publicly declare the contributions before receiving the contract, she explained.

While many board members have been pushing for this type of legislation, others are concerned it doesn't go far enough because it doesn't cover other countywide elected offices.

The committee is expected to release a preliminary report on all recommendations regarding government transparency and accessibility in early March. The full county board will eventually decide the fate of any proposed new regulations.

Besides campaign finance issues, the committee is also investigating making the budget process more accessible to the public by holding town hall meetings in each of the county board's six districts prior to a vote on the budget in November.

The committee meets every Tuesday. Visit dupageco.org to check the meeting schedule.