Quinn for Illinois

“Already, in his first hours as governor, Mr. Quinn was charting his own course: In a series of interviews and public appearances, he promised an honest, transparent and accessible administration. He reached out to include in his decision-making some of the state’s other elected officers who had long been shut out by Mr. Blagojevich. And he signed an executive order that made an official state entity out of a reform commission he established as lieutenant governor last month.” -New York Times, January 30, 2009

From his days as the youthful founder of the Coalition for Political Honesty to his historic successes as Governor, Pat Quinn has been Illinois’ strongest, most effective voice for reform and integrity in state government.

When Governor Quinn took office, on Jan. 29, 2009, the state of Illinois was rocked by political corruption scandals and reeling from the arrest and impeachment of his predecessor. Since then, Governor Quinn has enacted a long list of powerful reforms that are bringing integrity to state government and restoring the people’s faith in their elected officials.

Campaign Finance Reform

Ending years of pay-to-play deals that rewarded deep-pocketed donors with government contracts and no-bid deals, Governor Quinn signed a campaign finance reform bill that created Illinois’ first-ever limits on campaign contributions.

The Campaign Finance Reform bill, SB 1466, was one of many new reform laws launched by the independent Illinois Reform Commission, convened by Quinn in one of his first actions as Governor.

As first passed by the General Assembly, the Campaign Finance Reform bill was opposed by many reform groups throughout the state. So on August 27 – flanked by legislative leaders and reform advocates – Governor Quinn vetoed that bill, telling the General Assembly that he was sending it “back to the drawing board” and asking for a new version that would include “limits on campaign money that are real limits. We must understand the importance of disclosure, openness and fairness and doing things right."

Cindi Canary, head of the Illinois Campaign for Political Reform, congratulated Quinn on vetoing the bill. "What could be braver than listening to the people, coming to the table and saying, 'We hear you, we're going to try to do this differently,"' she said.

Taking heed, the General Assembly in October passed a new bill that limits campaign contributions to all Illinois candidates from individuals, organizations and party leaders. The bill also requires:

• Timely public disclosure of every contribution of $1,000 or more;
• Quarterly (now just twice a year) financial reports from political committees
• Creation of a bipartisan task force to analyze the new limits and recommend improvements that will bring further transparency and accountability to campaign finance in Illinois.

Earlier this year, Governor Quinn signed SB 54, which expands the prohibited “promises or offers” language in the State Officials and Employees Ethics Act, making it illegal to offer jobs, state contracts, board or commission appointments, or regulatory or legislative favoritism in exchange for campaign contributions.

Governor Quinn believes we can do more to reform campaign finance in Illinois. But these bills represents a strong and historic effort toward creating a more equal playing field for political candidates, ending cronyism, and reducing the influence of powerful special interests on our state and local governments.

State Purchasing Reform

Although the Campaign Finance Reform bill was the most high-profile of Governor Quinn’s reform victories, he also enacted a number of other laws that are overhauling business as usual in state government.

Putting real teeth in Illinois’ law to ban “pay-to-play” contracts, which reward hefty campaign donors with lucrative state contracts, Governor Quinn enacted SB 51, which reforms the way the State of Illinois purchases goods and services.

Ending years of abuse of official procurement procedures, the new law insulates purchasing decisions from political influence. Now, independent procurement officers and monitors will make sure state purchasing decisions are made to save money and provide value – not to enrich some crony or campaign donor.

The new law creates much stricter limits for no-bid and emergency purchases — two loopholes that have been used in the past to evade the state’s rules for awarding fair contracts.

To help Illinois taxpayers keep an eye on where their state dollars are going, Governor Quinn created the Illinois Transparency and Accountability Portal, (at http://accountability.illinois.gov) so taxpayers can go on-line and track state spending. The new website makes it possible for anyone to easily look up state employees’ salaries and state contracts.

To make sure state employees are representing the people’s interests – not their own – another new ethics law requires workers who buy goods and services and manage contracts for the State of Illinois to disclose any financial conflicts of interest.

The law also strengthens Illinois’ “revolving door” restrictions on high-ranking officials and board and commission members, prohibiting them from taking any jobs or fees from state contractors for a full year after leaving state employment.

New Restrictions on Lobbyists

As part of his far-reaching ethics reforms, Governor Quinn enacted new laws that tightened restrictions on lobbyists who work to influence elected officials on behalf of corporations and interest groups.

Those lobbyists are now required to undergo annual ethics training and disclose more fully who their clients are, what they do and the fees they receive. And for the first time, lobbyists are under the jurisdiction of a state Inspector General who can investigate possible wrongdoing and report lawbreakers to prosecutors.

Toughening the Freedom of Information Act

To provide fair access to government records, Governor Quinn signed a new, tougher version of the Illinois Freedom of Information Act (FOIA).

The new public records law increases government transparency and accountability by requiring governmental bodies to respond to FOIA requests more quickly and limiting the grounds for rejecting a request.

Most notably, the new FOIA allows the courts to slap fines on government bodies that violate the law and refuse to honor legitimate FOIA requests, whether from newspapers, bloggers, radio and tv stations or private citizens who want to know what their government is doing behind closed doors.

Reforming Boards and Commissions

In April, Governor Quinn moved to restore integrity to the scandal-scarred public pension systems by signing a new law that gave him the power to overhaul the boards that guide those systems and put well-regarded professionals in charge. The new law also requires those new members to follow strict ethics rules.

In a move to make all of the state’s boards and commissions more honest, transparent and accessible, Governor Quinn also signed an executive order launching Appointments.Illinois.gov, a website that allows Illinois citizens to access information about members and vacancies in the state's 300 boards and commissions.

In previous years, Illinois’ boards and commissions served as patronage dumping grounds for the politically well-connected. But today, by visiting Appointments.lllinois.gov, everyday people can fill out on-line applications to serve on boards and commissions that make important decisions about state policies.

And to make sure board members are not hampered by conflict of interest, Governor Quinn signed legislation requiring all appointees to state boards and commissions to file written statements of their economic interests.

Expanding the Powers of Inspectors General

In years past, investigators for the state’s inspectors general often found their hands tied because of confidentiality rules that kept the lid on wrongdoing by well-connected state employees. They also were not allowed to follow up on anonymous tips – meaning that workers knew they would leave a paper trail if they reported bosses or co-workers who were breaking the rules.

Now, under a new law signed by Governor Quinn, investigations by the Inspector General that unearth serious wrongdoing must be made public. The new law gives the Executive Inspectors General the power to launch investigations based on anonymous tips, or on their own initiative. It also requires them to review hiring and employment files, to make sure the law is being followed to the letter.

Recall

The voters of Illinois won an historic victory with the General Assembly’s vote to put the Recall Amendment on the November 2010 ballot.

“I have always believed that the highest office in the land is the office of citizen,” Governor Quinn said when the Recall Amendment passed on Oct. 15.  “No Governor who fails to perform should be allowed to disregard the will of the people.  Every elected official should be held accountable by the citizens of Illinois – not just on Election Day, but every day.”

Governor Quinn has supported the right to recall at every level since 1975, both as a citizen and as an elected official.  Although he believes that recall efforts should not be undertaken lightly, Governor Quinn says the mere possibility of recall gives elected officials an added incentive to deal squarely with the voters who put them into office.

When everyday people fail to perform on the job, their employers don’t have to wait for two or three years to show them the door. The people of Illinois pay the Governor’s salary; they should have the right to fire a Governor who doesn’t perform as promised.

As a lifelong believer in the power of democracy, Governor Quinn is grateful to the General Assembly for understanding that voters deserve the right to take immediate, direct action to unseat a failing, dishonest Governor.  

On the day the Recall Amendment was put on the November 2010 ballot, Governor Quinn said: “Today’s vote is the culmination of 30 years of hard work on behalf of Illinois voters. Giving the people of Illinois the power to decide for themselves how best to handle a Governor who isn’t up to the job – this is the ultimate ethics reform.”