Campaign Finance
Quote of the Day
<big>"As far as I'm concerned I never
connect anything I do in government with fundraising. I never have."</big><br>
<br>
—Illinois Governor Pat Quinn after it was learned that, in the midst of
his seeking serious ethics reform, including campaign finance reform, his
First Big Public Pension Investment Settlement
“If Boss Tweed were alive today, he would be a placement agent.” So said New York's attorney general, Andrew Cuomo, announcing a settlement with the Carlyle Group, by which the Carlyle Group, an outside investment manager for many government pension funds, will no longer hire placement agents to get public pension business and will greatly limit its officers' and employees' campaign contributions to anyone involved with public pensions (according to an article in today's New York Times).
Illinois Reform Commission Report Is Out
Most of the <a href="http://reformillinoisnow.org/press%20releases/IRC%20100-Day%20Report%20…; target="”_blank”">Illinois
Reform Commission's report</a>, which was published yesterday, has
little to do with local government ethics, but there is enough overlap
to make it worth skimming through. The IRC was charged with recommending changes in the state's ethics and campaign finance programs.<br>
<br>
Quote of the Day
Michael Malbin, executive director of the Campaign Finance Institute, <a href="http://www.campaignfinanceinstitute.org/states/pdf/CFI_to_IL_Jt-Legis-C…; target="”_blank”">testifying</a>
to the Illinois legislature's Joint Committee on Government Reform this
week (Illinois is one of five states with no limits on campaign
contributions; it requires only disclosure. It is also a leading state
Concern About Corruption in Illinois
Politics may be local for politicians, but is it for citizens? The <a href="http://ilcampaign.org/PDF/Jan09Poll.pdf" target="”_blank”">2009 Joyce Foundation
Illinois Survey</a> shows that in January the people of Illinois were
more concerned about corruption in government than about the economy.
Last January only 49% of those polled were extremely concerned about
corruption; now 61% are (and 50% are extremely concerned about the
Personal Fundraising by Elected Officials
Here's a more interesting story out of Massachusetts, this one from the
state Senate. Former state senator Dianne Wilkerson admits having
accepted up to $70,000 from friends and supporters in what is being called personal fundraising, that is, raising money to pay off personal debts. She says that the gifts were approved by the state