Litigation

Blagojevich?s Legacy to Include Court Reforms?

By Charlie Hall

An Illinois commission appointed in the wake of the Rod Blagojevich scandal has proposed several significant reforms affecting how judges are elected, as part of a broader program to clean up ethics problems.

In a report released Tuesday, the Illinois Reform Commission called for public financing of judicial elections, starting in 2010, as a pilot test of public financing of other statewide offices. At present, North Carolina and New Mexico publicly fund appellate court elections. The commission also called for campaign contribution limits and year-round “real-time” reporting of campaign donations.

And in a move with particular signficane for court elections, the commission also called for laws to disclose funding sources for campaigns run by so-called “independent” groups - addressing a problem that has been rampant in court elections in numerous states. The full report is at the commission’s web site, www.reformillinoisnow.org.

“It would be a rich irony if Rod Blagojevich’s lasting legacy in Illinois is wide-ranging ethics reform,” said Bert Brandenburg, executive director of Justice at Stake. “The dialing-for-dollars, pay-to-play atmosphere has been a scandal waiting to happen. The commission deserves praise for specifically seeking to protect the courts from potential corruption.” 

The commission was appointed by Governor Pat Quinn after Blagojevich was removed as governor for allegedly seeking to sell the Senate seat vacated by President Obama. The panel proposed a number of reforms, including measures to remove government procurement from political influence, and tougher enforcement of ethics laws.

The state has been especially ripe for runaway spending in judicial elections. The 2004 state Supreme Court race between now-Justice Lloyd Karmeier and Gordon Maag cost a total of nearly $9.4 million–still the most expensive ever. The lack of effective campaign finance laws has allowed candidates and third-party groups nationally to run up the cost of court elections, and created growing public perceptions that justice may be “for sale.”

While the commission only targeted one reform specifically to the courts - pilot testing of public financing - it urged Governor Quinn to more closely examine problems that could undermine public confidence that fair, impartial justice is being delivered:

The scourge of judicial corruption was repeatedly noted by commenters on ReformIllinoisNow.org. The Commission recognizes that many distinguished groups and advocates have explicitly and repeatedly focused on the public election of judges as an area rife with conflicts of interest and the potential for abuse. While the Commission has not heard testimony on this area, it urges future attention to this area from groups both inside and outside of state government.

Full post as published by The Gavel on April 29, 2009 (boomark / email).