An ethics step, but more are needed

Comptroller Dan Hynes says the 55-0 Senate vote Monday to override the governor's veto on ethics legislation - on top of a 110-0 House rebuke earlier this summer - shows that Rod Blagojevich "has zero credibility" with lawmakers.

Blagojevich says his rewriting demonstrated "real reform," needed because lawmakers had not gone far enough.

Unfortunately, both views are correct.

The ethics bill that will become law Jan. 1 is a much-needed step toward cleaning up the state's dismal and deserved reputation as a place where the public's business is for sale with the legal tender being campaign contributions to its overseers. Now, it will be illegal for anyone with a state contract of $50,000 or more to contribute to the state official who awarded that contract or candidates for the office that oversees it.

But that is hardly a panacea for what ails Illinois government. The system still allows contractors to contribute to state officers in some circumstances, and, as Senate President Emil Jones points out, contractors can still funnel money to candidates through political parties.

Blagojevich's amendatory veto addressed these points, and it would have established more complete disclosure of lawmakers' lobbying and clarified the process for raising their own and other state officials' pay.

These are important next steps, and to see the suddenly principled Senate whisking through them on Tuesday, you might think lawmakers were serious about addressing them. But the fact is they could have been part of the original legislation, and were not. Moreover, the governor, who took no role in the development of the law, waited until the last possible day to introduce his objections. These are not the behaviors of people who truly want change.

Illinois' entrenched political leaders have long held that as long as politicians report their contributions, the voters can decide what's acceptable and what's not. They clung to that reasoning through scandal after scandal and despite constant pleas for reform. So, we can hardly rush to cheer them for their actions this week, and we cannot be blamed for wondering whether the expansion bill that passed the Senate Tuesday will ever actually traverse the House and reach the governor's desk. It should not be forgotten that these same leaders practically had to be dragged kicking and screaming to this stage.

With his heavy-handed, ill-timed amendatory veto, the governor added much to the kicking and screaming, but little to the dragging needed to move the state further toward a campaign finance system in which voters can be confident.

If Blagojevich is serious about producing deeper reform, let him begin rebuilding his relationship with lawmakers and help to make it happen. If legislators and state officers are serious about reform, let them not hide behind the ragged skirt of the governor's unpopularity and pretend that they've cleaned up government.

They haven't. There's much more work ahead. As with just about every other issue facing the state these days, it's up to the governor and lawmakers to demonstrate some maturity and cooperation and get this work done.