Quinn for Illinois

By Monique Garcia

Gov. Pat Quinn says he will sign into law the state’s first-ever limits on campaign contributions on Wednesday --- exactly one year after his predecessor and onetime ally Rod Blagojevich was roused from bed and arrested on federal corruption charges.

Quinn acknowledged today that the campaign reform measure is “not perfect,” but said it’s a crucial first step.

The law would for the first time set limits on how much donors can give to political campaigns, though powerful legislative bosses get a pass on some restrictions. The law won’t impact next year's elections since the money restrictions don't go into effect until 2011.

Quinn’s signature would mark the end of a nearly year-long battle following Blagojevich’s arrest to limit the amount of money that flows into elections. Quinn vetoed an earlier version of the bill this summer after public push-back from reform groups, who have signed on in support of the latest measure in an effort to put some form of limits on the books.

“It’s substantial progress and I think it’ll make a great difference in making elections more competitive in Illinois and more open,” Quinn said this afternoon following an appearance before the Tribune’s editorial board.

Quinn said he decided to sign the bill on the anniversary of Blagojevich's arrest to encourage citizens to look back on the past year and the changes that have been implemented since Blagojevich's ouster.

Under the proposal, donations from individuals would be limited to $5,000 each for the primary and general elections. Corporations and unions would be limited to $10,000 an election and political action committees could not donate more than $50,000 per election.

But powerful Chicago Democrats House Speaker Michael Madigan and Senate President John Cullerton --- along with Republican leaders Sen. Christine Radogno of Lemont and Rep. Tom Cross of Oswego --- would be allowed to spend unlimited sums of money from their special leadership campaign accounts on individual legislators or highly competitive general election races.

In primary races, the bill would restrict legislative and party leaders to giving a combined $200,000 to statewide candidates, $125,000 to a state Senate candidate, and $75,000 to a state House candidate. That total includes direct cash donations as well as in-kind donations such as the value of printing, postage and staff time.

Quinn said it is “progress” that leaders will face limits in primary elections, but added that the state "should also take a look at them” for the general election.

The previous proposed legislation put a $90,000-a-year cap on direct money donations from political parties and legislative leaders, but reformers said loopholes rendered the limit meaningless.

The bill Quinn said he will sign Wednesday is missing another component from the first go-round --- Quinn’s idea to ban the state Democratic Party from making endorsements in primaries.

The governor insisted he wanted the ban because party bosses shouldn’t be slating candidates, but that was before Attorney General Lisa Madigan, the speaker’s daughter, decided to seek re-election and not run against Quinn in the Democratic governor primary.

Quinn said today he would have liked to keep that provision in the current bill but did not fight for it during negotiations.

“There was not a lot of enthusiasm for that so I didn’t insist on it,” Quinn said.