Lawmakers to address ethics, Olympic money next week

State Sen. Michael Noland of Elgin on Wednesday night hosted a town-hall meeting on the status of ethics reform bills that lawmakers will discuss in Springfield.

Appearing with Noland at Streamwood High School were fellow Democrat Sen. Dan Harmon from Oak Park and Cindi Canary, the executive director for the Illinois Campaign for Election Reform. Conversation focused on limiting campaign contributions, allowing voters to recall elected officials and restoring faith in elected officials in the aftermath of former Gov. Blagojevich's impeachment. The fall veto session starts Oct. 14, and there's no guarantee lawmakers will adopt any ethics reform.

"Hope is very much alive, just to let you know," Harmon said. "We'll survive the political consequences, if any."

Nolan also talked about Senate Bill 2470, which he said he filed on Tuesday. The bill focuses on campaign contributions, and he said that it will punish violators better, a criticism of previous bills which crashed and burned during the spring legislative session.

The most heated topic involved an exchange over if elected officials should be allowed to be paid as lobbyists. Two audience members questioned if those lobbyists were serving their constituents or driven by their paycheck from their employers. Fewer than 30 attended the meeting.

Canary, a lobbyist, said the state was built on the efforts of lobbyists, pointing to the work of Alexis de Tocqueville. Harmon asked if a village trustee should be forced to quit a lobbyist position, which represented that trustee's livelihood. Noland said for the most part he agreed with the audience members.

Without mentioning his name, Noland also took shots at Cook County Board President Todd Stroger. Noland is pushing for a bill that would repeal the Cook County Board commissioners' four-fifths supermajority needed to override the county president's veto. Noland is supporting Senate Bill 588, which would reduce that majority to three-fifths.

Noland tied that bill into last year's Cook County sales tax hike. The hike made Cook County sales taxes among the highest in the country and motivated shoppers to cross their county borders and spend money elsewhere.

Canary urged residents to put pressure on lawmakers to make the reforms, saying they won't happen without their help. The panel noted the media and public's criticism that the ethics bills didn't do enough.

"We're very hopeful a better bill will come out of the process," she said.

Where the $250 million earmarked by the state for Chicago's failed 2016 Summer Games bid goes also may be addressed next week when legislators convene in Springfield.

"We're going to see what we can do to redirect that in a very positive matter throughout the state," Noland said.