Read this article in your language IT | EN | DE | ES

Here is how efforts to impose good government standards in Illinois usually work:

1)  Changes to ethics laws, campaign finance laws, transparency laws, etc. are proposed by good government groups and a few brave legislators;

2)  Powers that be stifle any fundamental reform, usually arguing since there is no major crisis there is no need to change the law.

3)  Well known problems that good government groups and the few brave legislators have been warning about finally explode in spectacular fashion via federal indictment;

4)  Everyone, including the powers that be, get mad at the individual named in the indictment;

5)  Powers that be then madly scramble to argue there are no systemic problems, just a few bad apples.

6)  Any reforms passed are watered down to the maximum extent possible, especially anything dealing with campaign finance reform.

Let's hope this time around the response is different.  Not every reform that has been or will be put forward will be adopted, the legislative process simply doesn't work that way.  However, I'd hope our leaders would take note of what happened in Connecticut a few years ago.  Connecticut was rocked by a scandal that ultimately resulted in their Governor going to jail on public corruption charges.   

Of greater interest is what happened next, the entire political establishment of Connecticut realized that their existing ethics and good government laws were inadequate and enacted wholesale reforms.  Although the reforms, including campaign finance reform and strengthening ethics laws, did require negotiations and hard bargaining, nobody bought for a moment the argument that minor reforms and tiresome refrains to enforce the laws already on the books would suffice.

I hope that the politicians of our state, rather than seeing the coming reform push as a threat, see it as an opportunity to fundamentally rethink our state's good government laws in a fashion that benefits the public and helps rebuild state government's tattered reputation and integrity.

The six step process outlined above will simply pave the way for the next Rod Blagojevich or George Ryan.

Posted on: 1/12/2009 at 9:08 AM
Actions: E-mail | Kick it! | DZone it! | del.icio.us
Post Information: Permalink | Comments (0) | Post RSS