Reform panel coming armed to Springfield Friday with bills

As the Illinois Reform Commission has pushed its agenda to retool Illinois government, one of the raps that Illinois legislators have pulled out against it has been a simple question: "Where's the bill?"

How, they ask, can they be asked to take a position on legislation that doesn't yet exist?

After Friday, that excuse won't fly anymore.

Patrick Collins, the chairman of the Illinois Reform Commission said Wednesday if proposals are what legislators want, that's what they'll get.

"On our Web site, beginning today, we have started to put up draft bills, including our campaign finance bills," said Collins. "On Friday, we will be attaching numbers to those bills. And we were also told, 'Well, now you need specific sponsors for those bills.' We've been in conversations in the last 48 hours with some very prominent Democrats who indicated a willingness to sponsor our bill."

Friday is also the day that Collins' commission and CHANGE Illinois, a coalition of civic, business, labor and community groups advocating campaign finance limits, will appear before the Illinois Senate Executive Committee to present proposals and argue for their passage.

Although CHANGE Illinois is focused on campaign limits, the reform commission is also proposing a raft of other recommendations, including changes in state procurement laws, investigative tools and other measures.

George Ranney of Grayslake is a co-chair of CHANGE Illinois. He said there are already measures pending in the legislature on campaign finance which have yet to be called for a vote. HB 24 and SB 1768 each establish limits for individuals, businesses and unions wishing to donate. It also limits the amount legislative caucus committees can give to individual candidates.

Not everyone, of course, supports campaign contribution limits.

Illinois Rep. Randy Ramey, a Carol Stream Republican, argues they don't work, and only end up stifling people's right to free speech.

"If you look at the past presidential campaign, president (Barack) Obama raised $800 million dollars, and there's campaign caps (at the federal level)," said Ramey. "I always believe money is not corrupting the person if the person is already corruptible."

Ramey, instead, favors another commission proposal: real-time campaign contribution reporting so that voters can more readily link donations with votes, rather than only getting the information months later.