State campaign finance limits advance over objections

SPRINGFIELD - Under new rules, Illinois candidates would face newfound limits on campaign giving, have to disclose contributions faster and face state audits, but a provision that lets political leaders and parties spend freely has reformers crying foul.

As proposed and approved by an Illinois House committee today, political parties and legislative leaders would face no limits on their spending. So while a candidate for the Illinois House or Senate could take only $5,000 from an individual, $10,000 from a union or corporation and $50,000 from a political action committee, that candidate's political party would be free to spend on the campaign without restriction.

Campaign finance watchdogs say that without restrictions on that spending, the new system - which they acknowledge contains many improvements in other areas - would merely result in further entrenchment of legislative and political leaders.

"This is like a house without a roof," said Peter Bensinger, a co-chair of the group CHANGE Illinois. "It's more than not getting everything we want."

House Speaker Michael Madigan, a Chicago Democrat who also heads the state Democratic Party, disagreed. He noted that no one is proposing limiting how much a candidate for governor can spend on a campaign and said political parties should be no different, because their core mission is to support their candidates.

Madigan also criticized those who say Illinois should simply adopt the federal campaign spending system. He said the national Democratic and Republican committees have recently begun spending millions of dollars on the Virginia governor's race and that President Obama spent $741 million on his campaign.

"It doesn't seem to me like that's holding down spending," Madigan said of the federal system.

As proposed and sponsored by Madigan, the Illinois system would limit how much candidates and campaign committees could accept from individuals and interest groups.

In addition to reform groups, the limits were opposed by various unions.

Madigan defended the latest version of the regulations saying the package would put Illinois solidly in the national mainstream on campaign finance measures. He pointed out that 25 states, "one half of America" has no such limits for general election spending.

But campaign reform groups say the lack of caps on political leader spending is a fundamental flaw.

"Illinois," Benzinger said, "can do much better."

Lawmakers passed a similar series of regulations in the spring only to have it vetoed by Gov. Pat Quinn, a move legislative leaders said they supported. Talks since that rejection produced the latest plan. CHANGE Illinois said it supports the caps included, the requirement of faster disclosure of campaign giving and the call for state audits of campaign committees. But without the limits on political party giving, they remain opposed.

The plan cleared the House Executive Committee 7-4 with Republicans all voting "no" including local state Reps. Mike Tryon of Crystal Lake, Bob Biggins of Elmhurst and Ed Sullivan of Mundelein.

It now goes before the full House.