Round and round

Illinois Gov. Pat Quinn made a big deal last week of vetoing the campaign finance "reform" bill he originally proclaimed as a "landmark" piece of legislation. As The Hound has contended all along: Illlinois ain't ready for reform.

Nobody was happy with that "reform" bill, except for Gov. Flip-flop. Quinn certainly is looking bad when it comes to making proclamations and then having to backtrack when everybody else goes, "Huh? What's he talking about?"

What the veto means is there won't be any campaign finance reform before next year's round of elections, just like lawmakers and the governor planned it under the original "reform" measure which was passed on party lines. Democrats lined up to vote for any measure they could spin as "reform". That sure worked out well.

Remember, this is the party of Rod Blagojevich. They will need all the faux-reform measures they can muster to convince voters next year Democrats should remain in office. But the Blagojevich reformers gave us what was essentially the Incumbent Protection Act of 2009. It gave incumbents an advantage such as failing to cap in-kind donations and not limiting contributions by election cycle. And, of course, implementing the bill until after the 2010 elections.

So, campaign reform continues to "go round and round and round in the circle game". As Joni Mitchell put it: "We're captive on the carousel of time/We can't return we can only look behind from where we came."