Progress Illinois

The conventional wisdom in Illinois political circles is that House Speaker Michael Madigan -- ever-protective of his majority -- doesn't want to force his members to take a tough vote on a tax reform plan without adequate GOP cover. But take a look at the turnout figures from Tuesday's primary elections. While almost 30,000 more voters cast ballots in the 2010 GOP gubernatorial primary than in 2006, Democratic participation actually dropped by about 2,000 voters. The discrepancy was even more acute in the U.S. Senate primary. National political analysts are attributing the "enthusiasm gap" to Democratic ineptitude in Washington, specifically the Senate's handling of health care reform. There's probably some truth to that theory. But events closer to the ground matter, too.  Illinois is in horrible fiscal shape. The Democratic Party -- having botched a golden opportunity in 2009 to pass comprehensive campaign finance laws and begin closing the state's budget crisis -- isn't providing its base with a convincing reason to head to the polls and vote for any Democrat. Instead, the party leaders appears to be standing idly by as the state implodes on their watch. If he wants to protect the size of his majority come November, Speaker Madigan needs to address this disillusionment.  More inaction in Springfield will only exacerbate it.

With virtually every news outlet in the state reporting that House Republicans are pushing a new campaign finance bill, it's worth taking a step back and examining just how badly the Democratic leadership handled ethics reform last year. First, they passed a bill that was so poorly designed Gov. Pat Quinn was pressured to veto it weeks after calling it "historic." The revamped version addressed many of the pitfalls identified by the reform community, but still preserved -- at the behest of Speaker Michael Madigan -- the ability of the "Four Tops" and the political parties to dole out unlimited funds during the general election. Not surprisingly, the media and the GOP vocally criticized the Democratic bill.  In the following months, Republicans have been able to cast themselves as the reform party and yesterday's headlines only help to solidify that image (even though a Democrat, State Sen. Heather Steans, is the lead sponsor of the new campaign finance bill in the Senate). In short, while Dems took some action last year, the GOP is now trying to run away with the issue.