Week of October 26th, 2009

Veto session week number two begins Wednesday, October 28th and is scheduled to end Friday, October 30th. These dates represent the final days of the 2009 year that the General Assembly is scheduled to meet. Unless there is some type of special session called by the Governor or legislative leaders, any legislative action must take place this week.

During week two, the House will deal with Senate action on vetoes from week one of the Veto session. There are a couple of Senate Bills that will attract attention. SB2090 passed both the Senate and House unanimously in the Spring. The bill eliminated automatic cost of living increases for members of the General Assembly, judges, constitutional officers and agency directors for FY10 when those increases where approved by the Compensation Review Board. I supported the elimination of the automatic pay increases and believe that the system that allows for the Compensation Review Board to recommend raises that go into effect without legislative action needs to be changed. The Governor used his amendatory veto power to take this legislation to the next level and completely eliminate these “automatic raises” forever and not just for FY10. I think the Governor is correct. The system that allows automatic raises must be changed, but not just for a year.

For some reason, the Senate voted to override the Governor’s veto and essentially only allow the FY10 year increase to be eliminated. The vote was 50-7 in favor of keeping the automatic system after FY10. I guess that is further proof that the General Assembly is likely not to reform itself. I will support the Governor on this one and vote against the override. In these difficult financial times, I think it is ridiculous to think that public officials should support any system that creates automatic pay increases.

Another Senate Bill that is getting some attention is SB1466. This is not actually a measure vetoed by the Governor, it is new legislation designed to react to a veto. The Governor vetoed what most editorial boards and good government groups agreed was a very weak “ethics” bill that passed last spring. HB7 passed in the spring and included new regulations related to campaign finance reform. However, the campaign finance reform was so weak that the governor vetoed the bill after public outcry revealed it was a sham. I voted against HB7 in the spring because it was nothing more than an attempt to appear as if we addressed issues related to corruption in Illinois government.

SB1466 is the Speaker’s latest attempt to pretend to address campaign funding reform. The problem is that his version does little more than HB7. In fact, many organizations conclude that this new version actually makes the leaders in the General Assembly more powerful by placing hard campaign contribution limits on everyone except for the leaders. I will vote against this sham just like I voted against HB7.

The truth is that we must really change the way Illinois operates. The combination of power and money through unlimited campaign contributions has turned Illinois into a culture of corruption that can only be cleaned up by REAL campaign reforms. There is no way that any one person should hold the power to stop or pass legislation. That is bad enough. But when the same power is coupled with unlimited campaign contributions, it is a recipe for disaster.

Remember back in January when former Governor Blagojevich was impeached and removed from office. The outcry from the public was loud and widespread. Everyone vowed to clean up state government and the way Illinois does business. Some lip service was provided in the form of “special committees”. Now, after several months, those in charge in Springfield expect the public to forget about the corrupt culture and except some watered down version of reform that will do nothing to change Illinois. SB1466 is just another in a series of attempts to pass something in the name of reform. I will not support this deception. We need real reform with hard caps on contributions to all members of the General Assembly, the Governor’s office and Constitutional Officers, PERIOD.

Finally, we have also not seen any attempt to change the way political lines are drawn in Illinois. In just a couple of years, we will once again go through the process of legislative redistricting. In Illinois, that means that the people who draw the map will be the people who are serving in the General Assembly. Does it make any sense that the elected officials get to pick who votes for them? It should be the other way around and the people should get to choose who serves them. If the General Assembly will not change this system then the people should use the power of petition to place a Constitutional Amendment on the ballot to change the way legislative lines are drawn. It may come to that and if so, I hope I can count on many of you to carry those petitions.

Don’t forget, you can follow legislation and watch live House action during the final week of Veto Session by going to www.ilga.gov and following the links for live audio and video. I will have an update on week 2 of the Veto Session next week. You can write me at: P.O. Box 125, Hutsonville, IL 62433 or e-mail me at reddyunit1@aol.com. You can also read more on my web site: www.peopleforeddy.com or and follow me on Twitter at www.twitter.com/RepEddy and www.tweetillinois.org.