News From

State Representative Ron Stephens

For Immediate Release: May 31, 2009

Contact: Rep. Stephens

618-651-0405

Rep. Stephens: New Campaign Finance Limits Designed To Protect Incumbents

Springfield…. New campaign finance legislation, pushed through by the Democrat majority today in the House of Representatives, does nothing but protect incumbents and offers little reform according to Representative Ron Stephens (R-Highland).

“This legislation is nothing more than another diluted reform proposal pushed through the General Assembly by the Democrats as a way to deflect attention from the past six years of scandal and failure to lead on their part,” said Rep. Stephens. “While on the surface this legislation appears to create contribution limits in Illinois, it doesn’t even begin to go far enough.”

Stephens said the Incumbent Protection Act (House Bill 7 – Senate Amendment 1) is missing several key components that would bring about actual campaign finance reform.

“The legislation lacks a cap on in-kind contributions, allowing political parties to funnel large amounts of cash to candidates to be spent on TV and radio ads, campaign literature and workers,” Stephens said.

Additionally, the legislation limits donations by the year and not the election cycle, allowing an incumbent to collect more money over time than a challenger. It also opens the door to the creation of new committees that can be used to shuffle money to a candidate’s campaign.

Another problem with the bill involves the reporting period during which candidates have to disclose information about donations. Under the Incumbent Protection Act, the current contribution disclosure reporting period is expanded by an extra 30 days prior to an election. It fails to extend the reporting period to a year round requirement, providing no sunshine on campaign contributions.

“In the age we live in, with the Internet at our fingertips, there is no good reason why we can’t have real-time campaign finance reporting,” Stephens said. “The people of Illinois deserve to know where their representative is getting his or her money in a timely manner.”

Stephens believes there are better alternatives available to the Incumbent Protection Act through another bill already filed in the House.

“House Bill 24 more accurately reflects the reform commission’s proposals and would leave a much larger footprint on our political contribution system,” Stephens said. “No amount of laws can stop a person intent on corruption, but with the proper legislation in place we can make it as difficult as possible. The Incumbent Protection Act will not do the needed job.”

Stephens believes in order for true reform to come to Springfield, the Democrat leaders need to stop looking out for themselves and start thinking about what is right.

“I find it more than interesting that the Democrat leadership has delayed the implementation of these ‘ethical reforms’ until after the 2010 gubernatorial election,” Stephens said. “They are afraid of immediate, real reform until they’ve had a chance to secure their positions of power for another four years under the current broken system.”

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