Polls have long showed that few things in Illinois have more bipartisan support than term limits, with 80% of voters in support. Springfield, however, will have none of it. “A lot of hay was made,” as Politico said this week, about the Illinois House passing term limits earlier this year, though the bill was only for the speaker, Senate President and minority leaders of both chambers.
But Senate President Don Harmon (D-Oak Park) has shelved even that watered-down bill in that chamber, so nothing will happen. Harmon’s excuse? He said the legislation isn’t necessary given that the Senate in 2017 passed 10-year term limits for Senate leadership posts, according to Politico. He also questioned whether the bill would be constitutional.
That’s bunk. That change was just a rule change, not statutory, so the politicians themselves can change the rule at will. And a constitutional challenge in court just wouldn’t be a workable solution for a candidate for those positions. Harmon learned the ropes as former Senate President John Cullerton’s sidekick. He learned well.
Earlier this year lawmakers at least put up a pretense of caring about appearance, passing what was called an ethics reform bill. But it was universally slammed as window dressing. We criticized it here as a sham. David Greising of the Better Government Association wrote, “Of course it was going to turn out this way…. The forces of reform kept pushing for the best. But the case for sweeping reforms never stood a chance.
So now lawmakers are just thumbing their noses at ethical issues. Any excuse for doing nothing suffices, as shown by Harmon’s excuse on term limits.
The mother of all unexplained betrayals was Governor JB Pritzker’s breach of his campaign promise on fair maps. That, too, has overwhelming public support – 72% says a poll. But Pritzker signed off on what will be the state’s most partisan, gerrymandered map yet, and hasn’t bothered with any excuse.
And now the General Assembly’s watchdog has had enough. Legislative Inspector General Carol Pope resigned in frustration Wednesday, saying she has been given “no real power to effect change or shine a light on ethics violations,” rendering her position “essentially a paper tiger.” Can’t blame her.
The new General Assembly learned quickly. Why bother with excuses when voters don’t care?
-Mark Glennon
Updated to correct Sen. Don Harmon’s home from Oak Lawn to Oak Park. Apologies to Oak Lawn.
Audio and summary 
If this bill passes, say goodbye to local control over all Illinois parks and expect to see open drug and alcohol use, needles, no sanitation and fire hazards, but no ordinary park users.
Ok without term limits, let’s go for age limits. nobody over age 66 can hold a public elected post.
As long as Democrats control this state there will be no ethical conduct, no ethics reform and no change. Give it up folks. You Democrats sunk this ship a long time ago. All Fools.
To say voters don’t care is grossly inaccurate. As Mark Twain said,if votes mattered they wouldn’t allow voting. Politicians have zero ethics. It’s all about filling their pockets. If something threatens their power, change the law to make the threat illegal. This is nothing but Tyranny. If someone doesn’t approve, jail them incommunicado. Sound familiar?
Very disappointing. I think the unmoderated comments are inappropriate. Stick to the facts and be civil.
Come next election these same people will be re-elected…hey it’s Illinois!
This sort of thing is exactly why the attempt to occupy the capitol building was made, there seems to be no other way to get change
GOOD THING ABOUT JBP IS , FAT PEOPLE DIE EARLY
Good point. Need to protect democracy by enacting the federal voter protection act. Stop repugnant theft nationally and in Illinois
Sure, obliterate voter ID. That’ll fix Illinois.
🙄🤦
DUH
Joe, do you understand what federalism is?
It’s not what you’re talking about.
If the politicians used one-tenth the effort in drafting real reform legislation that they put into drafting something that looks like reform but actually does nothing, we’d have reform. I can’t count the number of times the GA passed something billed as ethics reform, but which actually accomplishes nothing. Lincoln must be spinning in his grave over the fact that this political hellhole bills itself as “The Land of Lincoln”.
I thought it was the land of ” Link Card”?
A few years back the Republican’s forced Gov Quinn to audit his Link Card offices and when doing so they found that millions of dollars was going to card holders who lived in other states. They would drive over the state line and use the Illinois card and then go back to Indiana and 4 other states. Corruption? Where do you begin?
No pensions for politicians, Social Security only, salaries capped at 60% of the state’s median income, and cap additional pay for committee and leadership roles at $5,000 (currently $10-$30K).
You want to serve in the same gerrymandered role for 30 years? Fine, but fund your own retirement.
Half the pensions for all state teachers who are unionized too! Cut all their pensions by 50% now!
Boy, you two are dreamers deluxe! Your wishes don’t amount to didddly squat to the powers that be.
It isn’t that voters don’t care. The @#$%*## system is so rigged you can’t get rid of the incumbents! They ought to throw a net over the whole bunch of them and send them on a one-way trip to Mars.
Let me apologize in advance for my suggested interplanetary pollution.
why would u wanna ruin a perfectly good planet such as mars?-most of these political idiots would ruin mars within 6 months
You’re right; that’s why I apologized.
Just more proof that these political hacks could care less about you or I or the state of Illinois,its all about self enrichment.Sad thing is,they dont even try to hide it.
Yes, and now I see that our state rep is also the mayor of Evergreen Park. Can you say double dipping!
A wise man once said: “If you’re not on the make, and you’re not on the take, then who the hell are you?”
The one reform most needed in Illinois is the enactment of a law , or Constttutional amendment, for citizens to exercise the power of INITIATIVE and RECALL to correct and override the endemic misconduct (a polite euphemism) of the Illinois General Assembly and all public office holders. “Voters don’t care” now because their votes are now always inconsequential. As they say in digital software design “garbage in, garbage out”. Can we finally start cleaning up the garbage ?
Term limits – another third rail.
Humans perform predictably when rewards are offered.
Corruption in Illinois politics is richly rewarded.
Voting/non-voting/watchdoggery is not rewarded…it is punished.
This suggests a simple solution: offer rewards for watchdogging. (Voting/not voting has already proven ineffective).
Pay someone capable of Collecting evidence, and litigate corruption.
This line of action offers tangible rewards.
Good, but realistically, who is going to fund this “watchdoggery”? Reporting facts was supposed to be the job of the media, but doing so can get a journalist sacked.
Exactly the right question.
The answer: crowdfunding of crowd-sourced evidence.
There absolutely needs to be a profit motive for white-hat participants (there is a huuggeee profit motivation for black hat political class predators).
This can be accomplished easily now via blockchain DAO projects. Participants in a successful project are rewarded with native tokens. Tokens, being finite in number and necessary to participate, rise in value as the project succeeds.
Litigation of taxpayer objection suits is one example of how to bring fiat currency revenues into the venture.
Politics is downstream from culture. If the people in Illinois only care about “getting theirs” or their one-issue social justice war, then we will only get the politicians that reflect those priorities. If ethics are the highest priority, then people would vote their ethics, regardless of partisanship. But they don’t, do they? They vote for whatever crook will give them what they want, and if it has to be a crook, then that’s the price that they’re willing to pay. Madigan survived for so long because he understood that this game is purely transactional. You give me something, I give… Read more »
The snake oil politicians in Illinois are going to make a law that will put them out of a job? Not now, not never. The pay is good, the payoffs are better, ain’t gonna happen.