Editor’s Note:This is the second installment of a three-part series examining campaign finance reform in the state of Illinois. The previous part of this series can be viewed online at www.dailyegyptian.com

Illinois is years behind much of the nation in the race to reform state campaign finance law, a former U.S. senator says, and as a result some candidates and officials have abused the system, using campaign finances for personal use.

An effort by SIUC’s Public Policy Institute is one of the many initiatives aimed at bringing Illinois up to speed on campaign finance reform.

We have been way behind. There is no question about it, said Paul Simon, Public Policy Institute director and former U.S. senator. In Illinois, there are no limitations on contributions, or what is done with them.

The institute plans to tackle the problems of campaign finance reform with help from a grant received by the Joyce Foundation.

The Joyce Foundation of Chicago announced December 1996 it was committing $6 million during the next three years to reform the nation’s campaign finance law at federal and state levels.

The institute’s portion of the grant, slightly less than $50,000, will allow it to examine the issue and construct some possible legislation for the state by helping to finance meetings with legislators by the Institute.

The meetings, which are under way, address what is becoming one of the more important topics in the 1998 gubernatorial election.

Under the Illinois’ Campaign Finance Disclosure Act of 1974, candidates have to disclose the names of contributors to their campaign and detail how the money was spent. Before this, politicians and candidates for public office could raise and spend without any disclosure.

The state of campaign finance regulation in Illinois is one of very little regulation at the state level, said John Jackson, vice chancellor for Academic Affairs and provost at SIUC. Illinois is one of very few states with almost no regulation.

Jackson, a political science professor who has researched campaign finance reform, said the easiest step in reforming campaign finance is to require detailed reports of where every penny comes from and where every penny is spent.

The second step should be restrictions on expenditures. However, he said, this is difficult because of interpretations of First Amendment rights.

The U.S. Supreme Court ruled in Buckley v. Valeo in 1976 that campaign expenditures are protected speech under the First Amendment and therefore cannot be limited. Many people contend this ruling has hindered efforts to implement reasonable spending limits on campaigns.

The next logical step, Jackson said, is to place restrictions on donors and how much money a person can donate. He said there are endless possibilities with this, and there are fewer First Amendment conflicts.

The final step Jackson suggests is to decide if Illinois wants some kind of public finance for campaigns with tighter restrictions on spending.

The project through the Public Policy Institute is meeting with four legislators, representing each of the legislative caucuses, and a representative from the governor’s office.

Michael Lawrence, former press secretary for Gov. Jim Edgar and associate director of the Public Policy Institute, said if an agreement is reached on one or two reforms, these legislators will take this back to their respective caucuses and attempt to pass them.

This project is an unofficial effort by the Public Policy Institute to see if we can’t stimulate progress on campaign finance reform by working with a group of people who represent both parties and both the House and Senate to reach some agreement on the elements of campaign finance reform, Lawrence said. At this point the discussions are very preliminary.

The four representatives were chosen by each of the caucus leaders. These representatives are:Sen. Kirk Dillard, R-Downers Grove, Rep. Jack Kubik, R-Berwyn, Rep. Gary Hannig, D-Gillespie, and Sen. Barack Obama, D-Chicago.

Each of these men have the confidence of his caucus leader but is also viewed as independent and not necessarily in lock step with the parties’ leadership, Lawrence said. That is what we wanted and we asked for recommendations from the party to leaders to give us someone they had confidence in but who also had a sincere interest in reform.

The reason we felt that it was important that the leaders had confidence in the people, is that if they do agree on something, these people have to go back to their caucus and try to sell it.

Lawrence said this group may be expanded to bring other legislators and groups that have expressed interest in reform as well as some significant campaign contributors.

He said the group will look at the penalties for incomplete disclosure statements and non-compliance.

Lawrence is attending the meetings. Simon is attending as his schedule permits.

Simon said he would like to, at some point, involve the University in the discussions.

We have to crawl before we can walk, though, Simon said. We are just trying to bring people together to see what we can accomplish.

Lawrence said the group would like to have an influence on this session of the legislature, but because the session ends in May, they are unsure whether they will be able to.

I don’t want to overplay what we are doing here, Lawrence said. Something may happen, something may not.

Even if we reach an agreement and it goes before the legislature that is not a guarantee that it will make it into law.

However, we do think it could at least stimulate reform in the government, and the fact that we might be able to do it makes us think that we should try.

Simon is also involved in another project looking at campaign finance reform. He is co-chairman of the Illinois Campaign for Political Reform with Lt. Gov. Bob Kustra. He said this group is looking for a more long-term solution to campaign finance.

Kustra could not be reached for comment.

The Illinois Campaign for Political Reform recently published a Campaign Disclosure Report Card rating most of the major candidates for state offices this year.

This committee is a cross-section of individuals and groups interested in reform representing a variety of views.

Lawrence said the idea of this group is to generate grassroots interest for campaign finance reform and to put pressure on the governor and legislators to enact reform.

There is a consensus among many legislators that campaign finance reform is not a top priority with the public, Lawrence said. There is also a sense that if the legislators do enact reform that the public is not going to give them credit for it.

Lawrence said the main mission of the Illinois Campaign for Political Reform is to generate the kind of grassroots support that will convince legislators reform is needed and they will be punished or rewarded by the voters based on whether they enact reform and what kind of reform they enact.

Nationally, the Campaign Reform Project and the Campaign for America are trying to initiate reform of campaign finance reform.

Both groups were formed in 1995 by Jerome Kohlberg, a founder and partner in the investment firm Kohlberg & Co., and Mike Synar, former congressman from Oklahoma.

The Campaign Reform Project is a nonprofit, nonpartisan organization focused on educating the public on the need for campaign finance reform. They have also established a Business Advisory Council to help educate business leaders about the importance of campaign finance reform.

During the 1996 election cycle, the Campaign Finance Project conducted a voter education campaign highlighting the inadequacy of existing campaign finance disclosure laws. The campaign published advertisements in three congressional districts and in USA Today.

The Campaign for America is also a nonprofit, nonpartisan organization working to pass meaningful campaign reform legislation and focusing on mobilizing citizens and organizations in support of reform.

The Campaign for America in conjunction with Common Cause, another reform group, launched Project Independence, an effort to activate citizens in the fight for passage of effective campaign finance reform legislation.

At the end of 1997, over one million Americans were involved with Project Independence.

I think what the Public Policy Institute is doing is the first rational step toward reform, Jackson said. What is needed is an airing of the issues and Paul [Simon] and Michael [Lawrence] are perfectly suited to the cause.

Lawrence said both he and Simon can be helpful because they have both been in the political arena.

Paul is a very important Democrat, and I served as a senior official in the Republican administration, Lawrence said. We are a bi-partisan operation here.

Simon and Lawrence said that campaign finance reform is going to be a critical issue in the election. Jackson also said he expects campaign finance reform to be a hot topic in the campaigns.

This is a timely topic and this conference is a welcome addition to the dialogue, Jackson said.