Campaign funding idea is rash, risky

It took Illinois lawmakers several years and the removal of a governor to build legislative ethics into the state’s campaign funding system. They may need only a couple of months to begin dismantling them.

The excuse they see as a foundation is a March ruling by a federal judge who, citing last year’s U.S. Supreme Court ruling to the same effect, said that Illinois cannot put limits on donations to independent political action committees that may support local or state candidates. The tool of choice they have taken up is a House amendment to a Senate bill from Chicago Democratic state Rep. Barbara Flynn Currie that would lift the state-imposed ceiling on donations to a candidate for local or state office if a so-called super PAC enters the campaign on behalf of his or her opponent.

The proposal lunged through a House committee this week on a straight party-line vote and is ready for debate on the House floor.

Currie’s thinking is not entirely unreasonable. If a given candidate is limited to donations of $10,000 by an individual and $20,000 from a corporation, how can he or she compete against an opponent whose super PAC can collect and spend unlimited amounts on his or her behalf?

That inherent disparity certainly makes this an issue worthy of study. But study is all that is needed now.

That Currie’s plan is moving forward so easily is a troubling indication of lawmakers’ commitment to protections that went into effect only a little more than a year ago. Those protections emerged after years of study and debate, including hearings by the state House and Senate and a report by a wide-ranging task force set up by then-Lt. Gov. Pat Quinn. What could possibly be the hurry in dismantling them so quickly?

True, one might argue that removing caps now would help protect a candidate gearing up for the November election. But one could just as easily wonder about the degree to which PACs will emerge in Illinois legislative or municipal races over the next five months and whether they will actually have an impact so quickly in a given race.

And the degree to which they do or do not can be one factor in the longer-term, expansive study that needs to be undertaken on this issue. In a letter to the state House Wednesday, the CHANGE Illinois! coalition noted that the legislation establishing Illinois’ campaign funding limits created a task force specifically “to evaluate this kind of proposal.” That panel, the coalition said and we agree, “is the logical place to begin a discussion of how court decisions impact the limits system and how best to respond,”

Even as it stands, Illinois’ campaign funding law contains some debilitating loopholes. A rash reaction to a court ruling could weaken the measure even further, and return the state to the Wild West days of anything-goes campaign finance.

Sure, Illinois’ election campaigns need to be fair and open. But if rushed into place, Currie’s proposal could have the opposite effect.