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Last modified: Sunday, September 14, 2008 11:41 PM CDT
Where Are The Ethics In The Senate?
by John Galer
Another level of political subterfuge by Illinois leaders has occurred this week in Illinois. Senate President Emil Jones has indicated that he will not reconvene the Senate until Nov. 12. This move follows an Illinois House vote of 110-3 to override Gov. Rod Blagojevich's amendatory veto of the ethics legislation passed this summer.
That legislation would end the pay to play, campaign contributions for contracts for Illinois work, throughout the state.
The Illinois Constitution requires the Senate to act on the ethics bill sent over by the House within a 15 day time limit or it dies. But Jones and other Senate Democrats argue that the time limit doesn't start until the measure is read into the Senate records and that hasn't occurred.
The unusual explanation for not acting on the measure could kill the bill, which may be what Jones and the Governor really want.
Earlier the ethics bill was held by Jones for nearly a year, but the federal corruption trial of Blagojevich's fundraiser Antoin "Tony" Rezko finally forced him to release it to the floor for a vote. Senators couldn't afford to be seen as protecting the pay-to-play games any longer and passed the ethics bill unanimously.
Both chambers pledged to override any veto, and the votes are there to do it.
Blagojevich spent the next several weeks garnering campaign cash at fundraisers that would be illegal under the original bill sent to him. He then packed on amendments and sent it back to lawmakers. The House answered with a resounding override answer last week.
It's now back to Senate President Jones.
Two other issues which passed the House, restoring budget cuts and approving a lottery lease, do not have a constitutional time limit, however, dozens of state workers face the loss of their jobs if the budget cuts aren't reversed before Nov. 12. Thirty-four state parks and historic sites are supposed to close before then. One is the historic State Capitol site in Vandalia.
Illinois residents deserve so much more than they are getting from the Senate leadership and Gov. Blagojevich. It is just another reason that voters should look very closely at convening a constitutional convention on the November ballot.
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