“Pay to play” politics has been the bane of Illinois politics for years. George Ryan is in prison for trading trucking licenses for campaign contributions and Rod Blagojevich will soon be joining him for selling or trying to sell just about everything imaginable for campaign contributions (including Barack Obama’s senate seat). As Governor Quinn’s Reform Commission noted in its March 31, 2009 report: “At best, big money in politics creates the appearance of undue influence over public officials and at worst it fosters actual corruption. Illinois is one of the few remaining states without significant campaign finance regulations. The recent election cycle with never before seen expenditures in judicial races, out-of-control spending on legislative races, and the scandals that have brought down the last two governors leaves little doubt that the system is broken.”

Yes the system is broken and if elected, David will work tirelessly to fix it. David supports the following real changes to Illinois’ campaign finance laws, which will drive a stake in the heart of “pay for play” politics:

· Create limits on campaign contributions
· Illinois is one of only a handful of states that permits unlimited campaign contributions. Politicians will swear that contributions create access not influence but the recent indictment of Rod Blagojevich, which revealed that he had a price list matching up state
jobs with the size of the contribution that was required to obtain them, proves that the politicians’ claims are false. There is simply no way that an elected official who needs to raise hundreds of thousands or millions (for state-wide offices) of dollars will not be
influenced by contributions of $50,000, $100,000 or more.
· Federal campaign laws cap donations at $2,400. David will support legislation to limit donations to state campaign to the federal level.
· Establish greater transparency on the source of donations
· Currently campaign law only requires politicians to disclose contributions at specified intervals. Large contributions can currently be made right before a vote on a key piece of legislation but not reported for months after the fact.David supports requiring the disclosure of all contributions of $500 or more within five businesses days after they are received and further supports making all of this information available on-line.
· David also supports full disclosure of anyone “bundling” campaign donations for a candidate and the full disclosure of independent expenditures for or against a candidate.
· Public financing of judicial elections
· While judges need to raise money to run for office but they are different from other politicians because once elected we want them to be completely impartial and not advocate for particular positions. Yet judges are as susceptible to being influenced by
large campaign contributions as other politician. In West Virginia, another rare state with that allows unlimited campaign contributions, a major coal company contributed $4 million to help elect Justice Benjamin to the West Virginia Supreme Court. Newly elected Justice Benjamin then refused to recuse himself from a huge case involving the coal company and, surprise, ruled in its favor. The United States Supreme Court is now deciding whether Justice Benjamin’s failure to recuse himself from a case where one of the party’s paid $4 million to get him elected, violates judicial ethics laws. Regardless of how the US Supreme Court rules, does anyone really think that Justice Benjamin was not influenced by a $4 million campaign contribution?
· David believes that the necessity for judges to be impartial makes radical reform of campaign finance laws for judicial candidates essential. David supports the Illinois Reform Commission’s recommendation to implement a pilot program for publicly financed judicial elections.

Read more about where Dave stands on Ethics and Education.