received from Sen. Matt Murphy
Last week, Governor Pat Quinn’s Illinois Reform Commission, headed by former prosecutor Patrick Collins, released its report on what needs to be done to clean up corruption in Illinois. I have been pushing major reforms since the voters sent me to Springfield. In fact, many of the key provisions of the commission’s plan to change Illinois government are reforms I have proposed in legislation, including:
Term Limits for Legislative Leaders (see legislation here): The Illinois Reform Commission supports a constitutional amendment that I have proposed that would put a ten-year cap on service in the four legislative leadership posts. We have too much power in too few hands. This proposal would change this fact.
De-Politicized Redistricting (see legislation here): After the 2010 census, Illinois will redraw legislative districts. Redistricting is done to assure that all areas are equally represented and that all districts have as close to the same number of residents as possible. Under current law, which party gets the power to re-draw the district maps is often actually decided by flipping a coin! The winning party then consolidates power by drawing districts favorable to them. The Collins reform commission advocates for an idea I have sponsored in legislation, which would require that new district boundaries be drawn by computers, in a non-partisan way, not by party leaders. Voters should choose their legislators, not the other way around. This change would take the politics out of redistricting.
Limiting the Control of Rules Committees (see legislation here): No matter how necessary or valid a piece of legislation may be, the Speaker of the House and Senate President can keep it from seeing the light of day. For example, the previous Senate President refused to allow a vote on a bill to curtail pay-to-play politics for over a year and a half despite the fact that the bill was sponsored by 47 of 59 senators. I filed legislation to force a bill with popular support to be heard in committee and voted upon to prevent further examples of one legislative leader having the power to thwart the will of the majority. The Collins Commission recognized the importance of this reform in its recent report and has called for similar legislation to be enacted.
Government Transparency (see legislation here): We often hear about the need for sunshine in state government. We need to make government more transparent so individuals can find out what is really happening with their tax dollars. The reform commission also saw the need for transparency. I filed legislation to require all expenditures of state tax dollars be posted online. Further, this legislation would ban any legislator who gives an earmark from receiving a donation from the earmark recipient for 5 years.
Move Primary Elections to June (see legislation here): Elections are too long and too expensive. Also, February primary elections, which the leaders pushed for, protect incumbents and stymies true political competition because they leave little time to campaign after the Holidays and before the first week of February. The Collins reform commission recommended that Illinois move its primary elections back to June to address these problems. I agree with the commission and am currently co-sponsor of legislation that would make this necessary change.
I commend Mr. Collins and the other members of the Illinois Reform Commission for their hard work. I am encouraged by the fact that we share a common view on so many of the solutions to Illinois’ fundamental problems. I look forward to working with the commission and my colleagues to implement these solutions and deliver state government we can all respect. Please let me know what you think about these and other efforts to change Springfield.
Sincerely,
State Senator Matt Murphy
