What You Should Know:

Campaign Finance Reform has been a hot League topic since the Watergate scandal of the 1970s. The Illinois LWV started in earnest pushing for CFR in Illinois in the early 90s.

Why You Should Care:

To enjoy a functioning democracy, citizens must feel that their needs are being represented and that politicians are not being influenced by monetary contributions from special interest groups. The perception of influence peddling is just as bad as actual influence peddling.

Campaign Finance Reform Meeting Report | 10.8.09

·       About 30 Leaguers, and a few members of the public, came to hear Paula Lawson, former state League president, talk about the future of Campaign Finance Reform, Ethics legislation to affect Legislators, and Redistricting, which is coming in 2011 (After the 2010 Census).

Ms. Lawson told us that the Legislation vetoed last August by Governor Quinn fell short because it left too much power in the hands of the political party leaders. Ms. Lawson said that the League of Women Voters of Illinois has joined forces with a group called ChangeIllinois! that is comprised of buiness, labor, civic, good government, and faith-based groups that all desire to see limits on campaign contributions made law in Illinois. Currently, Illinois is one of only five states, that allows anyone to donate as much as they wish to any official seeking state office.
Laws that went into effect in early January, 2009, ban contractors who receive more than $50,000 in state business from donating to the elected official who hires them. In most cases, this would mean the governor and other top executive officials are affected. That law, some speculate, prompted our former governor to try and make hay last fall before the law went into effect, a move which led to his impeachment and subsequent criminal charges being filed against him.

Ms. Lawson said that ChangeIllinois! is working on new legislation now, along with its partner organizations, and the state leadership so that the new CFR would be better, clearer, and

more effective in the long run. Ms. Lawson also said the most important thing for Leaguers to do is to write to "the 4 tops" -that is the state's 4 top elected political leaders- and urge them to do the right thing and work with ChangeIllinois! and its partners to write and pass meaningful, effective campaign finance rules with teeth.

Ms. Lawson also spoke about upcoming redistricting. The League is working with the US Census Bureau now to help Illinois get a more accurate Census count in 2010. New districts will be drawn in Illnois based on this Census data in 2011. The process by which Illinois districts itself is being examined by League and other organizations to make sure the districts are drawn to get the best representation possible. Illinois is expected to lose one Congressional seat in the next Census, and possibly two, if an accurate count is not reached. We lost a seat after the 2000 Census because of an undercount of just 150,000 residents.

To Link to the Press Release used to promote this meeting, click HERE
To Link to the comments made by Cindi Canary of the Illinois Campaign for Political Reform to the Illinois Reform Commission on this topic, click HERE