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Votes on Illinois campaign-finance reform bill may have electoral consequences
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On Friday, October 30th, 2009, the Illinois Senate passed comprehensive, landmark campaign-finance reform legislation. If passed by both Houses, and signed by the Governor, it would implement campaign contribution caps for literally the 1st time in Illinois history. There have already been articles covering the details of this legislation, predictions on what it would accomplish, etc. However, in this article, I cover a topic that has recevied very little, if any attention, which is the political impications that voting on this legislation will have in the 2010 Illinois state-level elections. State Senate Democrats were practically unanimous in their support for the complete bill. Yet on the other side of the aisle, many Senate Republicans voted against capping campaign contributions, and Republican politicians in the Senate Executive Committee voted as a bloc against this component of the bill.
I am beginning to wonder if the Illinois State Republican Party is trying to commit political suicide. Occurring in all elections and at all levels of government, Illinois Republicans have been increasingly in disarray since the mid-1990s. Whether it be that the Democratic Presidential candidate has carried Illinois in 5 consecutive presidential elections, the US Senate and Congressional delegation being disproportionately Democratic, or Republicans losing both houses of the state legislature, as well as losing statewide-elected offices, the Party of Lincoln is on the verge of extinction in Lincoln's homestate. For their elected officials to vote against campaign-finance reform puts them at odds with the general electorate once again. Given how corruption has hurt Republicans in Illinois, for them to vote against it virtually ensures that barring something major, they will not improve their numbers in 2010. As I had written in a previous column, the history of political corruption in Illinois is well-known. Illinois voters are becoming increasingly upset, and demanding a cleaner political system. For Republicans to stand uniting against campaign contributions basically translates into them wanting their powerful donors to remain very influential. Given that Republicans are already seen as favoring millionaires and Big Business only compounds this problem.
To look at it from their perspective, yes, Republicans generally do a better job of fundraising than Democrats, which is certainly not a new phenomenon. So, it may seem as if campaign contribution limits will erode their money advantage they have over Democrats. In this case, not only do I disagree with the outcome, but also the premise behind it as well. In fact, despite their financial advantages over Democrats, their outcomes in this state have been dismal, and their future prospects appear to continue being that way. Part of their problems in losing was not only being represented by politicians who were corrupt, but also from not distancing themselves from them. Now yes, of course there are corrupt Democrats in Illinois politics, but 1) Democratic state legislators have repudiated them (Blago), and 2) are also at least pushing for reform. Without a genuine efffort for campaign-finance reform on the part of the Illinois GOP, they will be at a major disadvantage in elections for at least the near-future. This bill on campaign contribution limits could have been a first small step towards rehabilitating the Republican Party. Albiet in a different context, as former Christian Coalition leader, Ralph Reed once said, "If the Republican Party is only the Party of Wall Street, but not the Party of Main Street, we will suffer at the ballot boxes." Good point. Maybe the Illinois Republican Party will have to completely self-destruct, and then start over from scratch. It seems as if they are willing to do precisely that.
