The Rod Blagojevich Treatment
Things are finally starting to change in Illinois
When Gov. Rod Blagojevich was convicted of public corruption, the Illinois General Assembly addressed the problem by passing reforms.
Not ethics reforms for a governor who was heading to jail for attempting to sell a U.S. Senate seat. Not reform for a General Assembly linked to scores of convictions for public corruption. Rather, they went after a group with low favorables and nothing to do with Blagojevich’s crimes: lobbyists.
I remember sitting in disbelief in my cubicle in the capitol building and listening to House Speaker Mike Madigan deliver a speech about the historic lobbyist ethics reform the General Assembly passed to prevent another Blagojevich in Illinois. And the media hated Rod so much at this point, that everyone cheered blindly to a very clear sleight of hand.
So, in the months following the ouster of Mike Madigan, who very clearly used his position as House speaker to extort taxpayers while making himself and his inner circle rich, what did I expect? I expected more lobbyist reform. That is to say, reform that would do nothing to address the problem.
But something was different this time.
When lawmakers started discussing what to do to prevent a future Madigan, the Illinois Policy Institute didn’t just present ideas. We had bills: drafted, filed and ready to be enacted.
This made lawmakers accountable and responsible for passing bills that actually would address the problem.
They passed rules for legislative term limits, so no elected official could ever again rule the state for four decades.
They passed conflict-of-interest disclosures, so the public would know why members recuse themselves from votes, or more importantly, the times they fail to abstain because of conflicts.
They expanded the powers of the legislative inspector general, to investigate issues immediately instead of 40 years after they happen.
In other words, the General Assembly actually passed legislation that would start to address the system of corruption in Illinois. And it’s because we had the bills ready, and because we were there to hold them accountable if they tried to pass more “lobbyist reform.”
Does it go far enough? Absolutely not. There is still work to be done.
The six-month cooling off period before lawmakers become lobbyists is nonsense, especially because the session has a nearly 8-month break. As a result, the bill does almost nothing.
But we are seeing progress. And it’s not just on ethics bills.
We saw the $75 million education tax credit scholarship protected and extended for a year. There’s also the likelihood lawmakers will make it permanent.
We saw 17,000 concerned parents, led by our own Illinois Parents Union, fill out witness slips which killed the unions’ goal of shutting down private schools during a “declared emergency.”
We saw that for the first time in decades, lawmakers did not even so much as discuss an income tax increase after the resounding defeat of the progressive tax.
And finally, this year's budget increased spending by 1.4%, which is under the 3.05% that would be required in our spending cap initiative.
Things are starting to change in Illinois.
In 2009, when Rod Blagojevich was convicted of public corruption, the General Assembly passed lobbyist reform. In 2021, when Mike Madigan was being investigated for corruption, the General Assembly passed ethics reform.
It is days away from being signed into law by Gov. Pritzker.