The lack of regulation that currently exists for campaign finance in Illinois shows the voter if a person has enough money, he or she can win an election. As the 1998 campaigns heat up, the issue of finance reform has once again taking center stage. Unless reform is enacted in Illinois, we will continue to see politicians taking advantage of the system.

Illinois’ campaign finance laws are among the least restrictive in the nation. A candidate can use acquired funds for anything they want as long as they pay federal taxes on their expenditures. They can even continue to use campaign funds after they leave office. These points alone show the potential for abuse within the Illinois government. A perfect example for this is former Sen. Frank Savickas, D-Chicago, who used $164,000 of his $200,000 budget for personal uses, including purchasing a car.

Of course, not all politicians are bad in Illinois. John Schmidt and Glenn Poshard, two candidates for the Democratic gubernatorial nomination, are making serious attempts to push the idea of finance reform forward. Both candidates use a large percentage of their own funds to finance their campaigns and are not opposed to regulating and disclosing information about funds they acquire.

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Candidates are not the only ones interested in reform. Elected officials Sen. Kirk Dillard, R-Downers Grove, Sen. Barack Obama, D-Chicago, and Rep. Gary Hanning, D-Gillespie, are just a few who are interested in reforming Illinois campaign finance laws.

Those actively pushing for reform measures should be commended, and they should definitely keep up their efforts to address this pressing issue. Those opposed to finance reform are only adding to the problem. They have an aversion to fixing the system that allowed them to be elected to office.

Illinois’ lax campaign finance laws produce corrupt government, and these laws will continue to produce corrupt representation unless reforms are introduced. Illinois’ current regulation of campaign financing takes the government out of the hands of the people and places it in that of special interests and lobbyists. As long as individuals are elected under these laws, the government will continue to consist of people who abuse the system for their own personal gain.