George Ryan didn’t just happen–he was found guilty of things that were largely commonplace for many, many years, though probably not to the degree he and Fawell mastered.
While Ryan took it much further with common bribery and a racket for him to benefit from it, the State of Illinois has one of the weakest official conduct and campaign finance regulatory system’s in the nation if not the weakest. Most states ban corporate and union contributions, but not Illinois. Many states limit the amount one can give–not Illinois. Most states have some regulation of state contractors and disclosure of their campaign contributions specific to their role–not Illinois.
John Fritchey has a bill that would significantly reduce the impact donations on state contracts (he overstates it a bit in saying it would end it, but hey, it’s a good bill).
It’s simple and easy to pass and it does very little to cut off the flow of cash to campaigns in general, but still tries to disconnect campaign contributions from contracting duties. That’s a good start.
More to the point, Illinois Democrats can crow about George Ryan and you get that right for a few days when the other side screws up that badly. However, voters are going to realize one day that change isn’t about bipartisanship necessarily when Democrats control the Legislature and the Executive.
There’s a disdain for this stuff in Springfield–it’s the purview of the hated goo-goos and such and it’s not worth the time of the leaders. It needs to be time though because if Democrats don’t take the lead on this issue (and call Republican bluffs), the time will come when Democrats face corruption charges and won’t have anything to point to to show how they tried to avoid the problem. It’s one thing if someone goes off the reservation and breaks the law, it’s another if the legal environment is so permissive that breaking the law is way over the ethical line voters expect. Democrats have the power, pass the bill. Make it go into effect on January 1st so we don’t fight over this cycle, but pass Fritchey’s bill and then look at a wider reform similar to what Blagojevich proposed, but hasn’t worked to pass.