Trying to cap spending by state party leaders

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Updated: August 4, 2011 4:20PM

When it comes to campaign finance reform, I’m a cynic.

The folks who want to influence elections always find ways to get around restrictions on campaign contributions.

With that said, Illinois has always been the Wild West when it comes to campaign fundraising. For decades, there were no limits on how much people could give or how candidates spent their campaign funds.

In 2009, some significant reforms were passed in the wake of former Gov. Rod Blagojevich’s pay-to-play scandal and impeachment.

However, one key component of reform failed to get the approval of the Legislature: Limits on how much legislative leaders and political parties could spend in the general election.

That’s pretty important in this state.

According to the Illinois Campaign for Political Reform, spending by the legislative leaders and their parties totaled $15.4 million in the 19 biggest-spending races for the Illinois General Assembly last year.

That included “more than $4.8 million to Senate Democratic candidates; nearly $4.4 million to House Democratic candidates; more than $3.6 million to House Republican candidates; and more than $2.5 million to Senate Republican candidates,” according to the ICPR.

In the 37th House District race, won by state Rep. Kevin McCarthy (D-Orland Park), McCarthy received 58 percent of his campaign money — or $277,963 — from legislative leaders and party contributions, according to the watchdog group. It said his Republican opponent, Jeffrey Junkas, received $146,983 from party leaders, or 53 percent of the $279,110 he spent on his campaign.

State Sen. Toi Hutchinson (D-Olympia Fields) received $646,425 from legislative leaders or Democratic Party coffers, or 62 percent of the $1.04 million she spent on her campaign.

Her Republican opponent in the 40th Senate District race last November, Adam Baumgartner, received $364,970 from the GOP and its legislative leaders — 67 percent of the $545,786 he eventually spent on the campaign.

Obviously, political party leaders in Illinois don’t want to limit their ability to support legislative candidates.

And the main man in Illinois, when it comes to raising money and backing legislative candidates, is Illinois House Speaker and state Democratic Party chairman Michael Madigan (D-Chicago).

The 2009 reform bill, which became effective on Jan. 1, 2010, did place limits on how much political parties and legislative leaders could contribute during primary election campaigns but took the gloves off for general elections.

Now, a new measure, Senate Bill 1272, would put a $300,000 limit on party contributions in statewide races, a $175,000 limit on Illinois Senate races and $125,000 cap on Illinois House races.

The bill had been headed for a full Senate committee hearing last week when it was suddenly shunted to something called the Executive Subcommittee on Election Law. That three-member committee includes Senate President John Cullerton (D-Chicago).

Is Cullerton going to support a bill that would place a limit on the power of legislative leaders and their parties to raise funds in general elections?

There are those who believe Cullerton is more open minded about reform than past Democratic Party leaders. But I’m suspicious about why he would hijack this bill into a three-member subcommittee that he could easily control.

A hearing on the measure is scheduled in Springfield on Wednesday morning.

State Sen. Maggie Crotty (D-Oak Forest) added her name as a co-sponsor to the measure after I called her office to discuss the bill last week. Crotty said she served on a legislative ethics committee, and this was one of its recommendations.

Legislative leaders have become the chief fundraisers for their political parties in Illinois and, in turn, have become the kingmakers for their parties.

Lobbyists, contractors who want state business and anyone else seeking to influence political decisions in Springfield understand that funneling money to the legislative leaders through their political campaign committees is the best way to accomplish their goals.

As I said at the outset, I believe those who want to corrupt the system will always find a way to do that.

Still, our legislators, the people we put in office, should at least be given the opportunity to vote on this reform bill. I would like to see where they stand.

I believe Madigan and Cullerton, who control the House and the Senate, will do their best to keep this measure off the floor of the Legislature.

So you may not support campaign spending limits, but you’ve got to like a reform measure that makes them squirm.