Cooperative approach forges campaign finance reform

With a few quick strokes of his left hand on a sunny southern Illinois day, Gov. Jim Edgar signed into law the most substantial campaign finance reforms this state has seen in nearly a quarter of a century. The new law:

• Prohibits officials from accepting campaign contributions in the Capitol or soliciting them when encountering lobbyists there.

• Bars fundraisers in Springfield during crucial times of General Assembly sessions, when legislators have life-or-death power over bills vital to interest groups.

• Closes loopholes that allowed candidates to hide sizable, late-in-the-campaign contributions from voters until the polls closed.

Mike Lawrence

• Stops political action committees from using fuzzy names that make it difficult for the public and the news media to pinpoint the interests behind the contributions.

• Requires fuller identification of major individual donors, including their occupation and their employer.

• Directs that candidates in races attracting substantial contributions file their disclosure reports electronically, which will facilitate computer-aided analyses that shed more light on the monetary influences in policymaking.

• Puts on the books strong, new restrictions against politicians using their campaign funds for non-political purposes, such as buying personal cars, sending their kids to college, paying for additions to their homes and creating a retirement nest egg.

Moreover, the legislation sharply restricts governmental officials and employees in the area of accepting gifts from individuals or interests that are doing business with the state or want to land contracts.

It took months of work and an innovative approach to produce the new law. The essence of the approach was to forge a bipartisan consensus among relatively few lawmakers and then bring that consensus to a vote in both the House and the Senate. The fledgling Public Policy Institute at Southern Illinois University organized and engineered the effort.

The institute, founded and headed by former U.S. Sen. Paul Simon, asked each of the four legislative leaders to recommend a member to work with us. We sought lawmakers who were sincerely interested in campaign finance reform, who could work across party lines and who ultimately could sell their product to their powerful leaders.

The chieftains chose wisely and well. Sen. Kirk Dillard (R-Hinsdale), Sen. Barack Obama (D-Chicago), Rep. Gary Hannig (D-Litchfield) and Rep. Jack Kubik (R-Berwyn) — joined by Andy Foster, deputy chief of staff for Gov. Edgar — labored many hours to achieve the consensus that ultimately became the nucleus of the reform legislation. They had honest differences over some of the proposals; however, they set those differences and partisanship aside to reach agreement on major changes, including tougher and broader disclosure requirements that will give citizens and policymakers even more insight as they assess whether additional reforms are needed.

The four legislators took heat in the privacy of party caucuses. Indeed, many of their colleagues publicly preached campaign reform but secretly prayed the system would not be changed. Still, the four persisted, and they received crucial backing from Senate President James "Pate" Philip (R-Wood Dale) and House Speaker Michael J. Madigan (D-Chicago). With that backing from the presiding officers of the two chambers, they brought their package to the floors of the House and Senate. And even resistant members grudgingly voted for the reforms because it was the politically correct thing for them to do.

Dillard, a suburban Republican, and Obama, a city Democrat, stood shoulder-to-shoulder in the Senate. Hannig, a downstate Democrat, and Kubik, a suburban Republican, led the battle in the House. Statesmanship prevailed over both partisanship and regionalism. This was a good exercise for our state — not only because of what was achieved but also how it was achieved. Here's hoping there are encores.

Mike Lawrence joined the Public Policy Institute at Southern Illinois University as associate director in July 1997 after serving as Gov. Jim Edgar's press secretary and senior adviser for nearly a decade.

4 ILLINOIS COUNTRY LIVING OCTOBER 1998