Finance reform, transparent government top issues of panel

So much corruption; so little time.

The Illinois Reform Commission, in its first meeting Thursday, ran smack dab into that problem, but forged ahead, identifying campaign finance reform and governmental transparency as the two issues it wants to tackle first in its quest to reform Illinois government. The committee, led by Patrick Collins, the former federal prosecutor who put George Ryan in prison, has pledged to produce within just 100 days a report of recommendations on how to reform government.

The focus for campaign finance reform came from three separate witnesses before the panel: State Comptroller Dan Hynes, former state Senator Steve Rauschenberger of Elgin, and Robert Rich, director of the Institute of Government and Public Affairs, University of Illinois.

Rauschenberger put it bluntly, providing a nice segue for another key issue of the commission: changing the attitudes of the people of the state of Illinois and politicians. While several speakers and commission members had talked about the feeling of outrage in the state over having one former governor sitting in prison and a sitting governor under criminal charges, Rauschenberger disagreed.

"I don't hear outrage in Elgin (over the current crisis)," he said. "They just want you to get the goofy guy (Blagojevich) offstage. I think your task is bigger than you realize."

Nonetheless, Rauschenberger wholeheartedly endorsed the group's efforts. He urged them to consider other states' models of government in coming up with a better system, and to consider possibly banning legislators from outside employment.

Hynes pinned the problem on campaign finance, and recounted his attempts at reform, only one of which was successful and that only because then-presidential candidate Barack Obama made a very public call to urge leaders to get it done.

When the panel comes up with recommendations, Hynes warned, one house will pass one version and the other house will pass a separate version, so they both can say they passed something. Then, neither will work to come up with a combined version unless the pressure is kept on them, he said.

"(It's) the Springfield two-step. You should be prepared for that," Hynes warned, adding that the problem, in part, stemmed from "a stranglehold from the top."

By that, he meant legislative leaders, rather than individual members, control what is passed.

The Illinois Reform Commission is a panel made up of 14 people selected by Collins. Among the members are Douglas Johnson, a Glen Ellyn neurosurgeon who volunteered for the Navy after 9/11, and Pamela Davis, the CEO of Edward Hospital in Naperville.

Many credit Davis with putting in motion the current criminal charges against Blagojevich. While seeking approval from a state panel to expand into Plainfield, she felt she was being extorted for a bribe and wore a wire to expose the corruption. Her efforts led to the conviction of Illinois Health Facilities Planning Board member Stuart Levine, who in turn testified against gubernatorial fundraiser Antoin "Tony" Rezko, who was also convicted.