©2011 Galesburg Broadcasting Co.
| Illinois Campaign Finance Reform Makes Fall Veto Session Schedule |
Aides to Illinois House Speaker Michael Madigan (D-Chicago) say improved campaign finance reform legislation will move out of committee and onto the House floor during veto session Wednesday (Oct. 14), amid concerns by a coalition of reform groups.
Despite rules on reporting large contributions and increased fines for violations, CHANGE Illinois , the Coalition for Honest and New Government Ethics, says real reform won't happen unless there are caps on campaign contributions from political parties and legislative leader caucuses. The improved bill lays out caps for individuals, corporations, unions, associations and political action committees, but not for political parties and legislative leaders.
"There has been a good exchange of information and ideas with legislative leaders and the governor and we seem to have agreements on several issues," said Peter Bensinger, co-chairman of CHANGE Illinois . "But we will not be part of any agreement which limits contributions from everyone except legislative leaders and political parties."
Mike Weir, spokesman for Madigan, contends that limits for parties and leaders would leave PACs with the upper hand. "Under what the reform group here is offering, you really open the possibility that you can have outside interest groups, national interest groups, big money organizations who want to come into states and influence races and they do it all the time," Weir said.
While there is $50,000 limit for individual Political Action Committees, there is no overall limit on how much money a candidate can receive from PACs. Historically, PACs have given more money to incumbents.
A campaign finance reform bill was vetoed by Gov. Pat Quinn with the support of all legislative leaders at the end of August in hopes of achieving stronger legislation.
(Illinois Radio Network) |
|
| 10 09 09 by Newsroom |
Click here for the WGIL News Archive
Click here for national news
The following provision applies to all visitors (which shall include persons and representatives of legal entities, whether such representatives are persons or digital engines of a kind that crawls, indexes, scrapes, copies, stores or transmits digital content). By accessing this Web site or digital service, you specifically acknowledge and agree that: (i) Associated Press text, photo, graphic, audio and/or video material shall not be published, broadcast, rewritten for broadcast or publication or redistributed directly or indirectly in any medium; (ii) No Associated Press materials nor any portion thereof may be stored in a computer except for personal and non-commercial use; (iii) The Associated Press will not be held liable for any delays, inaccuracies, errors or omissions therefrom or in the transmission or delivery of all or any part thereof or for any damages arising from any of the foregoing; (iv) The Associated Press is an intended third party beneficiary of these terms and conditions and it may exercise all rights and remedies available to it; and (v) The Associated Press reserves the right to audit possible unauthorized commercial use of AP materials or any portion thereof at any time.
