Missed opportunities

Gov. Rod Blagojevich escaped what would have been a media frenzy today by sneaking around Springfield for the annual Governor’s Prayer Breakfast and, according to the first lines of his speech, holding another meeting in the governor’s mansion about a state capital plan. His office provided audio of the nine-minute speech, and spokeswoman Rebecca Rausch said he then met with labor leaders about capital. He was back in Chicago by noon. The Statehouse press corps didn’t know about the events until after the fact. The quick in-and-out allowed him to avoid reporters who would have followed his every move to ask him to respond to Tuesday’s news — a political insider pleaded guilty and indicated that Blagojevich knew of an illegal deal to exchange a high-level state job for campaign contributions.

Ali Ata, former executive director of the Illinois Finance Authority, pleaded guilty to lying to federal investigators and fudging his federal income tax return. The federal probe is separate from but related to the case called “Operation Board Games,” involving Antoin “Tony” Rezko’s alleged influence in state business and campaign fundraising. Here’s that indictment, again.

Ata’s plea agreement indicates Rezko was instrumental in hiring Ata as executive director of the Illinois Finance Authority in exchange for his hefty contributions to Blagojevich’s political campaign. The state agency formed in 2004 and finances about $3 billion in projects for economic development each year.

The plea agreement said Ata met with Rezko and “Public Official A,” identified as Blagojevich, before Blagojevich was elected governor in 2000 or 2001 to talk about supporting his political campaign. They later talked about granting a state position in return.

Donations came in chunks as large as $25,000, as seen in Illinois State Board of Elections records. You can search all of Ata’s campaign donations here. Type in his name and scroll down to see his July 25, 2005, donation of $25,000 to Friends of Blagojevich.

In one conversation, Ata said he would accept a position within the administration, and Blagojevich allegedly said it had “better be a job where [Ata] could make some money,” according to the plea agreement. Ata allegedly was told he could head the Illinois Finance Authority as long as he agreed to report to Rezko. He officially was appointed in January 2004.

The plea agreement says Ata believed that he needed to please Rezko to keep his job. That involved donating about $125,000 to Rezko between 2003 and 2004, while he led the state agency.

Ata faces up to eight years in federal prison and up to $500,000 in fines. He’s fully cooperating with federal authorities.

Public reaction
The more that unfolds in the federal investigations surrounding the Blagojevich Administration, the more ears might perk up at the sound of “recall.” That would allow voters to kick someone out of office, but it requires a change in the state Constitution, either through an individual amendment or through a constitutional convention. Support for both could be growing, according to a survey by the Institute of Government and Public Affairs at the University of Illinois at Springfield. A convention would allow elected delegates to rewrite the entire state Constitution. And a majority of the public would have to approve the new charter.

Debate within the Capitol includes whether such emotional voting would lead to undesirable consequences in the long run. Whether the public likes or dislikes Blagojevich, changing the state Constitution to allow a recall of constitutional officers or state lawmakers — or any elected official, as proposed in the state Senate — could forever change the way elected officials behave. Supporters say that change is good because it would remind public officials that they always are accountable to the people who elected them. Opponents argue that change is bad because it would make public officials even more paranoid about voter dissatisfaction and, in turn, lead them to do whatever it takes to ensure they’re reelected.

For more information about a constitutional convention, see previous Illinois Issues articles:

November 2007 feature about Con-Con logistics, by Pat Guinane

December 2007 Q&A with Wayne Whalen, a delegate in the 1969-1970 Con-Con

Illinois Issues Blog entries about Con-Con

See more in the upcoming Illinois Issues magazine in the first week of May.

Impeachment: Day 1

Jamey Dunn, Public Affairs Reporting intern, contributed to this report.

It’s the first day that the Illinois House is investigating cause for impeaching Gov. Rod Blagojevich, and Kent Redfield already anticipates articles of impeachment from the House and a successful trial by the Senate.

A political scientist at the University of Illinois at Springfield, Redfield said that politically, the governor has forfeited his ability to govern.

Both chambers took actions today that attempt to establish precedent for the proceedings, given that the state Constitution’s vague language and the state’s short history on the process.

The House committee’s investigation will lead to a recommendation about whether to hold actual impeachment proceedings by the full House. More significant action will start Wednesday, when the first witnesses will be called and the rules will be adopted.

Should the House send articles of impeachment over to the Senate, then that chamber is preparing rules to guide a trial. A special committee created today will will draft the rules.

House investigation
But the process starts with the House. Majority Leader Barbara Flynn Currie, chair of the House investigative committee, said she intends to call witnesses to testify, including Ali Ata and Joseph Cari. Both were convicted of felonies related to the federal investigation into the Blagojevich Administration’s hiring and contracting practices

However, the request for witnesses could interfere with the ongoing criminal investigation headed by U.S. Attorney Patrick Fitzgerald. The federal prosecutor asked for a letter with more specific requests about the committee's plans.

Until Fitzgerald’s office responds, members might not meet seven days a week as scheduled. “While we are prepared to work, roll up our sleeves, get it done in a timely but deliberative fashion, we may be stymied early in the investigation by an inability to get clear answers from the United States attorney,” Currie said.

Then again, Redfield said, the effect on the feds’ criminal case is a completely separate issue. “Obviously the legislature’s not going to force someone to testify in ways that would compromise their legal position, but the legislature cannot focus on what this does to the U.S. attorney’s criminal case. The legislature has to focus on what is its political duty, its constitutional duty, in terms of exercising impeachment in a situation that clearly calls for impeachment.”

Even without the U.S. attorney’s cooperation
Even if the feds think the House committee’s proceedings could compromise the criminal investigation, some Democrats and Republicans said they have enough information to go on for impeachment.

Rep. Jack Franks, a Woodstock Democrat and longtime Blagojevich critic, said the plea agreements of Ata and Cari (Ata’s here; Cari’s here) spell out so-called pay-to-play politics, where Ata donated $25,000 to Blagojevich’s political campaign and landed a $125,000 state job soon after. “I’ve been asking for these [hearings] for months, well before this arrest occurred,” Franks said. “I’m confident that we have enough information.”

Franks also intends to discuss two state audits that looked into the governor’s purchase of doses of European flu vaccines that went unused, as well as a $1 million grant mistakenly given to a Chicago school.

The committee might not even need the criminal charges. Showing a significant abuse of power by the executive could itself be adequate cause for impeachment, Currie said.


Political process
That’s partially because the impeachment process is a political proceeding, according to Redfield. While the committee will consider criminal charges filed by the feds, it also will consider the governor’s performance. And it doesn't have to prove anything beyond reasonable doubt. “This is about whether or not the governor has violated his oath of office, whether he is fit to govern or whether he can govern. It’s a political decision.”

Partisan politics also are inevitable. Republicans will have ample opportunity to make Democrats look bad, considering Democrats control every office in this state. Call it retribution for years of GOP fallout from former Gov. George Ryan.

“It’s going to be very easy to get into broad questions of policy and the failures of the Democratic leaders, as well as the governor, to get things done,” Redfield said.

Senate Republicans, in fact, said in a Statehouse news conference this afternoon that they urge an equal number of Democrats and Republicans on the impeachment-related committees to prevent the majority party from being able to cover up facts that could hurt the party’s reputation.

“Is this more about uncovering everything and learning about everything that maybe the governor was involved in, or is it about just selectively trying to carve the governor out of the process and leave everything in place?” said Sen. Dale Righter, a Mattoon Republican. “If the latter is what happens, there will not be reform in Illinois politics. There will just be more of the same.”

Here’s the Senate resolution creating a nine-member committee to come up with the rules for a potential impeachment trial. Democrats have five members, Republicans four.

Impeachment: Day 2 and 3
Wednesday
The real work in the House investigative committee will start Wednesday, when members have invited the governor’s lawyer to testify. Items on the agenda, starting at 11 a.m.:

• Digest the 76-page criminal complaint against Blagojevich
  
• Review the plea agreement of Ali Ata
• Review the plea agreement of Joe Cari

Thursday
Thursday’s agenda would focus on information not needed from the U.S. attorney’s office. That includes two items:

• Cases in which the governor might have exceeded his authority, including initiatives he tried to advance through the Joint Committee on Administrative Rules. For instance, the governor tried to enact a FamilyCare health insurance program for middle-income families.
• Audits of the governor’s effort to secure doses of European flu vaccine without legislative approval.

Obama’s replacement update
To the Senate GOP’s disappointment, the Senate did not consider legislation that would allow for a special election of President-elect Barack Obama’s replacement in the U.S. Senate. The House Democrats asked for more time to consider such a measure, which wouldn’t happen until the General Assembly returns January 12.

13 impeachable offenses

The Illinois House voted 114-1, with one voting "present," to impeach Gov. Rod Blagojevich. The move follows the recommendations of a 61-page report that lists 13 impeachable offenses. The special investigative committee used a "totality of circumstances" as the standard, alleging that the governor demonstrated a pattern of abusing his powers. (Or, click on the top item to see the final report.)

Here’s a quick summary of the allegations:

1. He attempted to sell President-elect Barack Obama’s vacant Senate seat for campaign contributions or personal gain.
2. He pressured the Tribune Company to fire members of the paper’s editorial staff that had been critical of the governor by threatening to withhold state funding.
3. He tried to get campaign contributions for signing a bill into law that would give a percentage of casino profits to the horseracing industry.
4. He [CORRECTION] schemed to get $500,000 campaign contribution from a state highway contractor in relation to an upcoming Illinois Tollway expansion.
5. He withheld $8 million from Children’s Memorial Hospital in Chicago in an attempt to extort campaign contributions from a hospital executive.
6. He appointed Ali Ata as the executive director of the Illinois Finance Authority in return for a $25,000 campaign contribution. Ata has pleaded guilty to criminal charges.
7. He awarded multiple government contracts in exchange for campaign contributions.
8. He traded state permits and authorizations for campaign contributions.
9. He mishandled “efficiency initiatives” that consolidated functions of state agencies and advised them to violate the state Constitution and spending laws in order to comply with the initiatives.
10. He expanded the state-sponsored Family Care health insurance program without legislative approval or funding.
11. He ordered doses of European flu vaccine that the state didn’t need without federal approval. The doses were never used before they expired.
12. He illegally imported prescription drugs from foreign countries through the I-SaveRx program.
13. He violated state and federal law when hiring and firing some state employees.

We'll have much more soon. The governor's scheduled to speak in Chicago at 2 p.m., and the special Illinois Senate committee drafting rules for an impeachment trial could release a draft of rules this afternoon.

Impeachment: Day 3

The evidence gathered during the third day of the Illinois House’s impeachment investigation will play a role in committee members’ decisions about whether to recommend impeachment of Gov. Rod Blagojevich. Yet the answers committee members could not get from witnesses today is likely to be just as important, if not more, in determining whether the governor is fulfilling his constitutional duties.

Questions floated during today’s nearly seven-hour hearing focused on three things:

1. Has the governor exceeded his authority, and is he directly responsible for the expansion of a state health care program without legislative approval?
2. Do particular state audits of his administration document a habitual ignorance or flat-out disregard for state and federal laws?
3. Has his administration unnecessarily and inappropriately withheld information from the public?

Ultimately, the committee is looking for a pattern of behavior. Today’s testimony offered information that dated back to 2003, the first year Blagojevich took office.

“For those of us who have been around the building for the last six or seven years, some of it’s old news,” said Steve Brown, spokesman for House Speaker Michael Madigan, who is presiding over the impeachment investigation. “But in the context of a pattern of abuse of power, abuse of law, abuse of the appropriations process, I think it all shows a real pattern of behavior.”

The known work of the committee is done, Brown said. But it’s unknown yet whether the U.S. attorney’s office will give the OK to invite testimony from people involved in the ongoing criminal investigation(s), mainly Ali Ata and Joseph Cari (see the Day 1 blog). The committee went home for the weekend but will return to the state Capitol at noon Monday. Rep. Barbara Flynn Currie, committee chair, told members to be prepared for two days of work, but the specific agenda is unknown.

Here are some highlights of information gathered from today’s hearing:

Administrative authority (JCAR)
Committee members could not get straight answers about who ultimately made the decision to expand the state-sponsored health insurance program despite rejections the Joint Committee on Administrative Rules. Simply called JCAR, the bipartisan legislative panel reviews administrative rules to make sure they stay true to the legislative intent. Read lots of background information about the expansion of FamilyCare in previous blogs.

A group of businessmen filed a lawsuit against the governor, claiming that he expanded a state-sponsored health care program to middle-income families without legislative approval and without specific spending authority to pay for it.

Director Barry Maram pointed out that court rulings have not specifically addressed whether the Department of Healthcare and Family Services had authority to expand the program. Court decisions so far have only determined that the eligibility criteria used for the FamilyCare expansion don’t abide by federal employment rules (see more here).

Fun fact: Since JCAR was created 31 years ago, nearly half of the rules it has suspended or prohibited have happened during the past six years of the Blagojevich administration, according to Vicki Thomas, executive director of JCAR.

The governor’s office has said JCAR is just an advisory body. Thomas said if the state didn’t have a JCAR, it would lead to “abuse of power and serious problems of separation of powers because then you would have the administration making law.”

Audits
Auditor General Bill Holland cited a June 2005 audit that documented significant problems in the agency where the governor consolidated many of the state’s important functions, Central Management Services. So-called efficiency initiatives turned out to be not so efficient, costing state agencies more money than they saved, Holland said. But the agency’s contracting practices were even more problematic. Many times, members of the governor’s staff played key roles in selecting the companies that would receive the state contract, which is unusual, he said. In one instance, a state contract was granted to an agency that did not yet exist.

Holland said routine requests for such information as contracts and travel vouchers also have been problematic. “Every year those are questions we’re going to ask … but when we ask for information and it is now being routinely given to legal staff, that is not making it any easier. It is making it more complex,” he said.

Holland also repeated the scenario in which he said the governor illegally tried to import doses of flu vaccine after initial scare of a shortage, but the U.S. government never approved the European vaccine. It eventually was meant to ship to Pakistan, but it didn’t get used there, either, because it expired.

Freedom of Information
The administration had shown “disregard” and “contempt” of the law on rather routine requests for public documents under the state’s Freedom of Information Act, said Jay Stewart, executive director of the Chicago-based Better Government Association. He said the administration repeatedly denied his requests, which isn’t that unusual. But what is unusual is that officials couldn’t confirm whether they had the information requested, and if they did have the information, they wouldn’t provide it. Stewart said it was the first “hypothetical denial” he’s ever received. The association has been trying to get access to federal grand jury subpoenas served upon the administration.

Senate trial Day 3: fewer witnesses

Hilary Russell contributed to this report.
Illinois Senate Republicans are concerned about the dwindling number of witnesses the prosecution team plans to call before the full chamber will vote on whether to convict Gov. Rod Blagojevich and remove him from office forever.

“Aside from getting to the verdict of the governor, I think that the people of Illinois deserve to have a full hearing and understanding of how far the corruption goes in this government,” said Sen. Kirk Dillard, a Hinsdale Republican, before the tribunal broke for lunch.

Yet, many senators expect a vote by the end of the week. That’s largely because without a defense presented on behalf of the governor, less time is needed than scheduled.

The prosecution team originally planned to call 13 witnesses, but House Prosecutor David Ellis dropped five House members from the list in favor of reviewing the criminal affidavit affirmed by Daniel Cain yesterday. Today, Rep. Chapin Rose, a Mahomet Republican, testified about the plea agreements of Ali Ata and Joe Cari, previous members of the governor's inner circle.

Michael Kasper, counsel hired to support the House prosecution team, added that rather than have House members testify to give their characterization of evidence, it would be more appropriate for senators to look at that documents themselves and come up with their own perceptions.

Dillard said he was particularly worried about why Rep. Constance Howard, a Chicago Democrat, was scratched from the list. She originally was scheduled to testify about the injury to the people that has happened since the governor’s arrest, including a dropped bond rating that makes it more expensive for the state to borrow.

Senate Minority Leader Christine Radogno said the evidence intended to demonstrate the governor’s mismanagement of the state “seems to be getting truncated at this point.” She added: “I think it’s not good for the public. The public is the one that’s been harmed by this … I think that it’s incumbent on us not only to give the governor a fair trial, but to let the public know that we have a good handle on the extent of this corruption.”

The prosecution today is focusing on the governor’s alleged abuse of his executive powers, with additional testimony this afternoon from the legislative review committee, the Joint Committee on Administrative Rules. Auditor General William Holland also will talk about the administration's effort to import European flu vaccine and Canadian prescription drugs, as well as an efficiency initiative that received bad reviews. We wrote about both items when the House heard similar testimony.

Blagojevich is fighting impeachment — "more to say later"

Gov. Rod Blagojevich’s failure to file a motion with the Illinois Senate to dismiss his impeachment case, to plead guilty or not guilty to the charges or to seek witnesses in the upcoming Senate trial doesn’t mean he’s not fighting the process. There’s a chance he could try to block the Senate impeachment trial by going to an actual court. Even so, the Senate trial will proceed with or without his defense team’s participation.

UPDATE: While the Chicago Sun-Times is now reporting, based on anonymous sources, that the governor’s attorneys will not challenge the Senate trial in federal court, constitutional law experts say even if he did, the court likely wouldn’t touch the case with a 10-foot pole because it’s a political matter at the state level.

John Nowak, the Simon chair in Constitutional Law at Loyola University Law School and longtime law professor at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, said: “While we don’t have a precise case on this, I would assume that the federal courts would rule that questions regarding the impeachment of a governor must be settled only by the political branches. That means the elected branches, just like all questions of impeachment of a president or a federal judge, have to be settled by Congress.”

The governor issued a statement this morning to say his defiance of the impeachment process has nothing to do with him but everything to do with the office of governor. “What the Senate and House are trying to do is to thwart the will of the people and remove a governor elected twice by the people without a fair hearing, without due process, and without giving me the right — the most basic right every citizen in our country has — and that is the right to call witnesses,” Blagojevich said in the statement. He said he would like to call Rahm Emanuel, President Barack Obama’s chief of staff, whose office said nothing improper took place during conversations about filling Obama’s vacant U.S. Senate seat.

Per the Senate trial rules (Rule 15), the governor’s team does have the ability to call witnesses, although they missed the 4 p.m. deadline yesterday to file motions to call witnesses. That’s because the governor’s attorneys, including Chicago lawyers Sheldon Sorosky and Edward Genson, are not participating in the trial because, the governor said, “the rules which don’t allow me, as the governor, to call witnesses are unfair, and deny fundamental due process.”

He ended by saying: You can’t possibly defend yourself when they say you did something and they don't let you call witnesses to say you didn't do it. I’ll have more to say later.”

Blagojevich’s press office has “not been made aware of any plans” by the governor or by the attorneys to fight the Senate trial in an actual court, according to spokesman Brian Williamsen.

Meanwhile, things are taking shape for the Senate trial. The Illinois House prosecutor who will present the case against Blagojevich wants to hear from the FBI agent who listened to recorded conversations between the governor and his inner circle. But the subpoena request must be approved by a majority of Senate members, as well as the U.S. attorney’s office in northern Illinois, which obtained the recordings as part of the ongoing criminal investigation against the governor.

David Ellis, the House prosecutor, filed a motion last night to seek a subpoena of FBI Special Agent Daniel Cain. Ellis’s motion says Cain is familiar with every recording mentioned in the criminal complaint against Blagojevich. It would be relevant, Ellis writes, because the Illinois House based the first five reasons to impeach on allegations outlined in that criminal complaint.

Ellis also is seeking voluntary testimony from people who testified before an impeachment inquiry committee of the House.

Here is Ellis' list of desired witnesses:

• Andrew Morriss, professor with the Institute for Government and Public Affairs at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, about the governor’s alleged abuse of his administrative powers and the defiance of the Joint Committee on Administrative Rules (Exhibit 50).
• Auditor General William Holland about audits of the governor’s importation of European flu vaccine and prescription drugs, as well as the administration’s initiative to combine state agency functions (Exhibit 6a and 6b).
• Former Assistant U.S. Attorney John Scully of Lake Villa about the process of getting approval to intercept oral and phone conversations (Exhibit 57).
• Rep. Chapin Rose, a Mahomet Republican, summarizing the plea agreements of Ali Ata, Joseph Cari and Tony Rezko, all targets of federal investigations involving the decision-making process of the Health Facilities Planning Board (Exhibits 4, 5).
• Rep. Connie Howard, a Chicago Democrat, about the drop of the state’s credit rating since the governor’s December 9 arrest (Exhibit 37).
• Rep. David Miller, a Lynwood Democrat, about a 2004 report by the executive inspector general that describes “endemic hiring fraud” in the Illinois Department of Employment Security (Exhibit 43).
• Rep. Gary Hannig, a Litchfield Democrat, about the governor’s alleged plot to withhold state funds from the Tribune Co. unless it fired an editorial board member.
• Rep. Jack Franks, a Woodstock Democrat, who would talk about the governor’s attempts to import European flu vaccine, prescription drugs and efficiency initiatives (Exhibit 61).
• Rep. Jim Durkin, a Western Springs Republican, about the ability of investigators to tap phone and personal conversations and the governor’s alleged plan to auction off the U.S. Senate seat vacated by President Barack Obama.
• Rep. Lou Lang, a Skokie Democrat, describing Blagojevich’s attempts to skirt the Joint Committee on Administrative Rules and to withhold information about his expanded health care program, FamilyCare (Exhibit 66).
• Rep. Susana Mendoza, a Chicago Democrat, about allegations that the governor tried to trade official acts for campaign contributions from horse racing executives, a tollway contractor and a hospital executive.
• Special Agent Daniel Cain about his signed affidavit (Exhibit 3) and his positive identification of the governor as the man whose voice was recorded by the FBI.
• Vicki Thomas, executive director of the Joint Committee on Administrative Rules, about the panel’s objection to the governor’s plan to expand a state health insurance program (Exhibit 53).

Warning: Rocky road still ahead

State parks and historic sites would stay open. Substance abuse prevention and treatment services would avoid losing $55 million in state funding and the same amount in federal funding. State funding for human services would return to the levels approved by the legislature in May. The same would apply to the constitutional officers, which could hire back employees already laid off. Mass transit districts would receive more than $36 million in reimbursements for having to provide free rides to seniors and people with disabilities. But there’s a big “if.”

That will happen if Gov. Rod Blagojevich signs a plan approved by both chambers. The House approved the budget restorations earlier this month, and the Senate followed suit on Tuesday. But there’s no telling how long this could take. The Senate could send the approved measures to the governor’s desk right away, or it could wait for whatever reason. And once the governor does get the measures, he still has 60 days to sign them into law, veto them completely or send them back to the legislature with changes. Given the timeline or lack thereof, it’s questionable whether state parks and historic sites will close in October and November as scheduled.

All agree that the ball is in the governor’s court.

Rep. Mark Beaubien, a Barrington Hills Republican and budget negotiator for his caucus, expressed a concern about Blagojevich's next move. “Now he has the ability to take the veto pen and play games and eliminate programs to try to make different people look bad.”

Brian Williamsen, a Blagojevich spokesman, said the governor’s office has to review all of the details and added that it’s too early to speculate on a timeline. Williamsen could not say whether the governor would delay closing parks and historic sites if the House and Senate plan had potential to become law.

The House and Senate agreed to sweep unused money from the special state funds to collect about $221 million, which is included in SB 790. The package also would create a new fund, dubbed the “Budget Relief Fund,” so that the money could not be used for anything other than restoring the budget cuts spelled out in the spending bill, SB 1103.

The 15 votes against the fund sweeps were among Senate Republicans, who said there is no guarantee that the governor will sign the measure and, if he does, that he’ll release the money as intended.

The deal to accept the House’s version of the plan came only after much of the day was spent behind closed doors negotiating an even larger plan that would have increased funding for various programs, but the wish list ballooned out of control and eventually collapsed at the last minute. Literally at the same time, the Illinois Department of Revenue issued new information that revenue projections are coming in lower than anticipated. Income and sales tax revenues, as well as other tax revenues, are coming in below the levels on which this year’s budget was predicated. The difference: $200 million.

That slightly deflates the cushion that the governor has when distributing money throughout the fiscal year. But Rep. Gary Hannig, a Litchfield Democrat and budget negotiator for his caucus, said the $221 million in budget restorations that advanced to the governor’s desk Tuesday pay for themselves by transferring the same amount from special funds.

Sen. Donne Trotter, the Senate Democrats' budget negotiator, looked to the regularly scheduled fall session in November. “If there’s still an appetite to do more, then we can do more at that time.”

But the question of what the governor would do loomed like a black cloud. “There [are] no assurances — nothing that I can give — other than we know that there is a need, a necessity to get this done,” Trotter said. “And I think that we saw that, at least, in a rare occasion, the entire Senate that is present today voted for it. So we know at least what the legislators would like to see done. … It’s up to him of what he’s going to do otherwise.”

Which message are you sending?
Building on yesterday’s ethics reforms, the state Senate advanced a more sweeping measure that the governor tried but failed to advance through his executive powers. All GOP senators voted in support of the measure, five Democrats voted present and one Democrat voted against it.

Sen. Don Harmon, voted “present." The Oak Park Democrat sponsored yesterday’s successful pay-to-play ban, but he opposed the measure containing the governor’s proposals today because it sends the wrong message. He warned that approving a bill that almost everyone agrees is fatally flawed would undermine the behind-the-scenes negotiations already happening between both chambers and the governor’s office. He said it also could give the impression that the Senate is more interested in claiming that it advanced comprehensive ethics reforms than it is in ironing out the complicated and significant details with the House.

“Let’s negotiate this bill before we start throwing bombs across the building,” Harmon said before the Senate voted to approve the measure.

Fifty senators disagreed with Harmon and said approving the new reforms contained in SB 780 sends a different message: The Senate is ready to enact comprehensive reforms that could help regain the public’s trust during these troubling times. (That message is more likely to sound better on campaign literature landing in voters’ mailboxes from now until the November 4 elections.)

The legislation would enact more limits to political campaign contributions and shine more sunlight on who makes money off of whom. It would prohibit businesses with significant state contracts from donating to legislators and statewide political parties, prevent legislators from working in numerous government jobs as a second source of income, require more disclosure of legislators’ lobbying activities and reform the way the legislature enacts its own pay raises.

Through a news release, the governor applauded the Senate’s action. “This vote sends a message to the people that the tired tradition of double dipping, the fraudulent way pay raises are doled out and the deceitful way legislators who moonlight as attorneys can hide their clout-heavy client list should be a thing of the past.” His news release urged the House to continue the momentum and approve the more sweeping ethics reforms.

The Campaign for Political Reform, a Chicago-based good government group, testified against the legislation last night, saying it was fatally flawed and constituted more “political rhetoric” during the election season. But Cindi Canary, director of the think tank, said she has been working with other legislators and the governor’s office for the past few weeks on the governor’s ethics language.

The Senate president addressed the whole chamber but, at more than one point, seemed to speak directly to Harmon and Sen. Ira Silverstein, a Chicago Democrat who also voted “present.” (In the Illinois legislature, a “present” vote is intended to demonstrate opposition a flawed bill but support of the concept.) Both Harmon and Silverstein also happen to be among the names floating around as contestants to be the next Senate president when Jones’ term ends in January.

Jones said senators who oppose SB 780 want to either protect someone else or preserve their fundraising abilities so they can run for higher office. Silverstein later said that Jones’ comments are part of a political game and won’t hurt other negotiations. “But enough is enough,” he said. “You have to stand up for what you believe in.”

The only senator voting against the legislation was Sen. Mike Jacobs, an East Moline Democrat who often speaks out against Blagojevich. He repeated earlier sentiments that “the cancer of Illinois is the governor.” Jacobs made the point that the governor’s ethics legislation approved by the Senate today would not target the actions of convicted felon and political insider Tony Rezko, found guilty of 16 counts of federal corruption. It also wouldn’t have stopped another political insider and hefty campaign contributor, Ali Ata, from testifying that he donated to the governor’s campaign in exchange for a high-powered state job.

Sen. James DeLeo, the Chicago Democrat sponsoring the governor's ethics bill, defended the measure and said it wouldn’t stop drug dealing or bank robbing, but it would improve the transparency of state government.