Coalition challenges Madigan to accept reform himself

In August, reform groups stood up for top Illinois politicians as they threw out the state's first sweeping limits on campaign donations. They all promised to work together to draft an even stronger law.

Now that lawmakers are set to take up the issue again next week, however, it seems those hopes of agreement are in danger of falling apart.

The reform groups, united under the banner of Change Illinois!, announced Thursday at a news conference in Chicago that while many advances have been made in the proposed legislation - including caps on contributions, demands for more frequent reporting, fines for violations and random audits - there remains one "sticking point": They haven't been able to reach an agreement with legislative leaders over campaign finance limits on political parties and their caucus committees.

At the same time, House Speaker Michael Madigan, a Chicago Democrat, said he is going forward with legislation next week, even though the reform groups oppose it, calling the failure to curtail his power and that of other party leaders, both Democrat and Republican, "a deal breaker."

"Progress has been made," said Peter Bensinger, former administrator of the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration and Change Illinois! co-chair, "but we will not be party to any agreement that limits contributions from everyone except legislative leaders and political parties."

Both Madigan and Change Illinois! agreed their negotiations, involving top leaders of both parties and representatives of Gov. Quinn, had considerably toughened the bill passed in May. Madigan representatives crashed the news conference with a memo of their own, a document Change Illinois! co-chair George Ranney called "helpful" in that it laid out points that have been settled.

Although the exact figures could change in final debates in Springfield, according to Change Illinois! the new legislation would cap contributions from individuals at $5,000, $10,000 from corporations, unions and other associations and $50,000 from political action committees.

"The limits would be higher than we would like, but we still think they can be effective," aid Ranney, who is also president of Chicago Metropolis 2020. "This is a give and take, and we think the important thing is to get the structure straight, get that into place so that over the years it can be modified and improved."

"We believe we have reached an agreement on all their outstanding issues," said Madigan spokesman Michael Weir, "save for one."

Yet that sticking point is considerable: proposed limits on how much cash Madigan and other powerful politicians can funnel to state lawmakers to run their races. The money is a key to the ability of Madigan and other legislative leaders to maintain political control in the General Assembly.

Currently, those donations are unlimited. Change Illinois! wants to cap it at $100,000 a candidate for a general election.

Ranney said limiting contributions by everyone but party leaders would only increase the considerable power they already wield with their campaign war chests. Change Illinois! presented a chart showing that, among top receivers of party funds, state Rep. Paul Froehlich, a Schaumburg Democrat, received about half of the almost $800,000 he raised in 2007-2008 from legislative leaders and the state Democratic Party.

"That would make those who control political parties and legislative caucuses stronger and everybody else weaker," Ranney said. "The money controlled by the leaders would be even more influential than it is now." The result, he added, intended or not, would be "more conformity, less independence and to discourage people from even thinking about running for office."

Bensinger said, in effect, it would make legislators more beholden to their parties than to their constituents, and he defended the position that it's a "deal breaker."

"It may make things worse," he said. "If the leaders are exempt from the contribution limits ... it would put more power in the hands of the few and take power away from the voters in the districts."

Both Ranney and Bensinger emphasized it was "nothing personal" in regards to Madigan, but was instead, in Ranney's words, "a policy issue of the highest order."

Yet, on policy, Heather Wier Vaught, assistant counsel to the speaker, said a specific problem is it would aggregate party contributions, but not PAC donations, thus making it possible for outside groups to swarm in and overwhelm local politicians. "You're actually putting special interests in charge," she said.

"It's disarming political parties," Weir echoed, "and empowering PACs and outside interest groups."

Yet there was no denying they were also defending the speaker's own interests, and Weir suggested there was going to be a take-it-or-leave-it approach to presenting the bill next week.

"Negotiations are not going to be waylaid or thrown off track over this one issue," he said.

Gov. Quinn did not come down on either side, issuing a statement saying only that he "is committed to working with legislative leaders, experts and activists to reach an agreement on campaign-finance reform."

"There is no guarantee that a silver bullet aimed at party leaders will end corruption in Illinois," stated Rikeesha Phelon, press secretary for Senate President John Cullerton of Chicago, who likewise has a keen interest in maintaining his political power. "The corruption that we have seen in Illinois has not been due to the influence of political parties, it has been about the corrupt influence of special-interest money.

In going public with the stalled negotiations, however, Change Illinois! made it clear it believes it's an issue worth digging in its heels over. Comprising dozens of groups, including the League of Women Voters, the Better Government Association and the American Association of Retired Persons, it called on their combined 2 million members to lobby directly through a toll-free hotline that will funnel calls to the appropriate legislators: (800) 719-3020.

"The people of Illinois forced this veto," said Change Illinois! co-chair Deborah Harrington, president of the Woods Fund of Chicago. "Today we ask them to rise up again and join us in urging their legislators on the need to impose limits on all campaign contributions."

"The only reason there's going to be action here is because people demanded it," Ranney said. "We've got to get it right, and this is our chance to do it in the next few weeks." He added that no one expected the General Assembly to pass any sort of campaign-finance reform earlier this year, much less have the governor veto it in search of a stronger law. "It's been a year of surprises," Ranney added, "and we hope to surprise one more time."