Ethics Section of Illinois Republican Party Platform

Who would think that a political party would emphasize ethics as a separate plank in their platform?

Only in Illinois, where one speaker (I think it was Senate Minority Leader Frank Watson) said that Rod Blagojevich was “the Republican Party’s best friend.”

State Party Chairman Andy McKenna also alluded to ethics in his criticism of former Governor Jim Thompson’s public advocacy of a pardon for his law firm’s client former Governor George Ryan, now in federal prison.

The ethics section of the platform follows:

A CALL TO ETHICS & REFORM OF GOVERNMENT

Trust, pride and respect: we pledge to restore these qualities to the way Illinoisans view their government and their leaders.

The Republican Party recognizes that without integrity, promises and solutions have no value. Therefore, our Party will not stand for the slightest compromise in the ethics of our political leaders, regardless of party affiliation. We recognize that a compromise in the ethics of our Party officials can and will cause damage to the overall Party and to the citizens of Illinois. Ours will be a Party of ethics and integrity, regardless of the cost.

At the same time, we condemn the pay-to-play politics endemic to the Blagojevich Administration and the culture of corruption which the Democrats have established at all levels of government in Illinois. We sense the concern and growing outrage of the people of Illinois in having their trust so egregiously violated, and we join them and call on them to join us in seeking reform of Illinois government.

  • The Republican Party supports the citizen-led effort to institute a process for recall of elected officials.

  • We advocate requiring voters to display valid photo identification before registering to vote and before voting in the polling place.

  • The Constitution of the United States establishes a separation of powers among the three branches of government in order to preserve our republican form of government and ensure that no branch takes government from the hands of the people themselves. We call on Gov. Blagojevich to cease his practice of usurping the authority of the legislature in both spending and program decisions. And we call on the judiciary of the United States to cease their usurpation of the authority of the elected representatives of the people at all levels and their abridgment of the rights of the people themselves.

  • The Republican Party of Illinois calls on the Governor and the General Assembly to meet the contractual obligations of our state by properly funding the various state pension systems and ending the practice of diverting pension fund contributions to other purposes.

  • We call on the Governor and the General Assembly to cease diversion of dedicated funds – such as the road fund – to other purposes.

  • We call on the Governor and the General Assembly to balance the state budget and provide for a responsible capital development program without resorting to the expansion of gambling, which harms Illinois’ families and our state’s business climate and presents costly challenges for both law enforcement and social service agencies.

  • In the critical task of restoring ethics to our political and governmental systems, we call on all political and public officials of all parties to adhere to the following principles:

  • Party officials must act in such a way as to avoid even the appearance of impropriety.

  • Party officials must place public service ahead of personal gain.

  • Government contracts and licenses must be awarded based entirely upon merit pursuant to an open process.

  • Neither political leaders nor their emissaries may encourage, direct or even tolerate government employees engaging in political work on government time or using government resources for campaign purposes.

  • Neither political leaders nor their emissaries may solicit campaign contributions from government employees or contractors, nor may government officials award contracts based on past contributions.

  • The Governor and the General Assembly should bar former government officials from lobbying the government agencies they have left within two years of separation.

We salute President Bush and the United States Department of Justice – in particular, Northern District US Attorney Patrick Fitzgerald – for their aggressive efforts to combat political corruption in Illinois. No previous Administration on the Federal, State or County level has done more to confront political corruption and prosecute it in Illinois than the Bush Administration.

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Recently convicted Governor Rod Blagojevich fund raiser Tony Rezko can be seen in the top photo. The picture of Blagojevich being unthreatening comes from a mailing this Republican primary voter received in 2006. Next comes the newly elected Republican National Committeeman for Illinois, Pat Brady. Brady gave a strong anti-corruption speech. U.S. Attorney Patrick Fitzgerald appears at the bottom of the article.


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