Thursday, October 29, 2009
Chicago Sun-Times
by Dave McKinney

SPRINGFIELD -- State lawmakers Thursday moved to clip the powers of Cook County Board President Todd Stroger, tighten cemetery oversight and cap campaign contribution following Rod Blagojevich's alleged fund-raising abuses.

The state Senate voted 48-1 to send legislation to Gov. Quinn that would lower the threshold for Cook County commissioners to override a veto by Stroger.

If Quinn backs the legislation, lowering the override requirement from a four-fifths majority of the county board to a three-fifths majority could empower opponents of Stroger's penny sales tax hike and set the stage for another vote to repeal it.

In September, Stroger fought off an attempt to roll back the sales tax hike when Commissioner Deborah Sims refused to join 13 other commissioners in overriding Stroger's veto of a repeal.

Quinn spokeswoman Marlena Jentz wouldn't say whether the governor would sign the legislation, which Stroger's office said would gut the county's health-care system and lead to the closing of Oak Forest and Provident hospitals.

In other key legislative action, government watchdog groups reached agreement with Quinn and the legislative leaders on a major campaign-finance bill.

The measure, a Democratic-crafted answer to Blagojevich's ethical breaches, would impose $5,000 contribution caps per election for individuals and $10,000 caps on unions and corporations per election. But those caps would not apply uniformly to legislative leaders and political parties, where fund-raising limits would be in place during primary elections but not general elections.

That triggered Republican complaints that the new standards would concentrate the power of legislative leaders but weaken the independence of rank-and-file lawmakers whose fund-raising abilities would face uninterrupted caps.

The proposal, whose caps would kick off in 2012, was sponsored by House Speaker Michael Madigan (D-Chicago), who described the package as landmark legislation.

"For the first time in the history of Illinois, there will be limits on contributions," he said.

The measure passed the House 66-49 and now moves to the Senate for an expected vote Friday.

Also Thursday, the House approved 89-27 legislation that would put some cemeteries under closer state scrutiny -- a response to atrocities at Burr Oak Cemetery.

For the first time, for-profit cemetery managers would have to be licensed by the state, giving government regulators greater authority to investigate complaints at cemeteries. The measure now moves to the Senate.

A bill to disallow most seniors from riding buses and trains for free surfaced briefly in the House but was pulled from debate without explanation by its sponsor, Rep. Elaine Nekritz (D-Northbrook). The inaction pushes the CTA's funding crisis to the brink because lawmakers are scheduled to go home for the year on Friday.