Finance reforms add disclosure rules

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SPRINGFIELD – New limits on donations are the centerpiece of campaign finance reform that lawmakers tout as a real breakthrough from the recent veto session.

But the measure awaiting Gov. Pat Quinn’s expected approval goes further than limits. Politicians will have to disclose who’s giving them money much more often. And state regulators will have more power to look for violations and punish them.

The reforms included in Senate Bill 1466 won’t affect the upcoming 2010 elections, with a start date instead of January 2011. Officials at the State Board of Elections are using that time to figure out the details and see what more is needed to work out any snags.

“We have been reviewing it. We’re still taking a look at it,” said Dan White, the board’s executive director. “It certainly poses some challenges.”

Here are some practical scenarios of how the measure would affect political donation reporting and oversight.

Scenario: Candidate A, running for the Democratic nomination for governor, collects more than $750,000 from teachers’ unions, fellow Democrats and others. How much does the candidate have to disclose, and when?

Answer: Candidates, under current law, have to detail all their fundraising and spending every six months.

Under the new measure, that would double to four times a year. And they’d have to disclose any donations of $1,000 or more they receive year-round within five days of receiving them – the first time Illinois has had full-year disclosure.

David Morrison of the Illinois Campaign for Political Reform, which helped negotiate the measure, said that would make Illinois’ already strong disclosure system among the nation’s best.

“That’s a huge bump in disclosure,” Morrison said. “We should get a lot more disclosure a lot sooner.”

Scenario: Donations are coming in quickly to candidates in the final weeks before the election. Candidate A receives more than 20 donations worth $1,000 or more apiece, and another 10 worth between $500 and $1,000. How would those be disclosed?

Answer: Reform advocates did make some disclosure concessions.

Right now, candidates, in the 30 days leading up to elections, have to disclose any donations they receive of $500 or more within two days of getting those donations. The new law would bump that threshold up to $1,000 or more.

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