{"id":420943,"date":"2010-03-12T13:45:00","date_gmt":"2010-03-12T18:45:00","guid":{"rendered":"tag:typepad.com,2003:post-6a00d8341c60fd53ef01310f9403d8970c"},"modified":"2010-03-12T14:41:47","modified_gmt":"2010-03-12T19:41:47","slug":"lawmakers-vote-to-restrict-scholarship-abuses-but-loopholes-remain","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/420943","title":{"rendered":"Lawmakers vote to restrict scholarship abuses but loopholes remain"},"content":{"rendered":"

Posted by Ray Long<\/em> at 12:44 p.m.; last updated at 1:41 p.m.<\/strong>
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SPRINGFIELD — State lawmakers today approved legislation that would put new restrictions on a much-criticized, century-old legislative scholarship program in which the perks sometimes went to to relatives, cronies and political donors.<\/p>\n

While the measure contains provisions designed to curb those practices, it also leaves loopholes that would not have prevented some of the politically-connected grants doled out the previous five years, according to a Tribune analysis of state records.<\/p>\n

Still, House lawmakers hailed the legislation, which now goes to Gov. Pat Quinn’s desk.<\/p>\n

"I believe that taking baby steps is better than taking no steps at all," said House Majority Leader Barbara Flynn Currie, D-Chicago, who voted in favor of the ban.
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<\/br>The measure, approved 85-22, with one lawmaker voting present, would ban a legislator from giving a scholarship to someone whose immediate family could be linked to a campaign contribution within the previous five years. In addition, family members of a scholarship recipient could not give a campaign contribution for five years to a lawmaker who distributed the award.
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<\/br>Sponsoring Rep. Bob Flider, D-Mount Zion, said the restrictions go to the heart of scandals in which scholarships have gone to students from families who have given campaign contributions to the lawmaker. He argued the program cost public universities nearly $12.5 million because the schools pick up the costs as tuition waivers.
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<\/br>"If this continues, we need to take the politics out of the program," Flider said.
<\/br>
<\/br>The scholarship program drew a second look this year as lawmakers wrestled to salvage financial aid for low-income students and Tribune revelations showed legislators have used the waivers to sway admissions decisions at the University of Illinois.
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<\/br>Another key provision responding to the newspaper’s probe would require students getting a scholarship to be accepted at a state university before the tuition waiver is awarded. A scholarship recipient could be required to reimburse a university if it is discovered that information provided when applying for the scholarship was false.
<\/br>
<\/br>But Rep. Bill Black, R-Danville, maintained the restrictions will not stop the abuse of scholarships. Black said the only reason lawmakers were considering the restrictions was to provide opponents of a ban "roll call cover" when constituents complain that they refused to address the scholarship scandal.
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<\/br>Black, who has long refused to take part in the program, said the restrictions represented a charade that should not be given serious consideration.
<\/br><\/p>\n

"I’m not going to vote for this," Black said. "I’ll vote ‘No.’ "<\/p>\n

The Tribune reported last month that legislators still would be able to award scholarships to the children of elected officials, lobbyists, campaign workers, office staff and party loyalists. Students whose relatives donate to powerful ward and township organizations also would remain eligible.
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A Tribune analysis of scholarship and other public data showed that lawmakers gave free rides to the relatives of at least 35 elected officials from 2005 to 2008. An additional 87 went to the children of people who contributed to the lawmakers’ ward committees, township organizations or county parties.
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<\/br>Each of those waivers would be permitted under the proposed reforms.
<\/br>
<\/br>The legislative program has raised repeated questions about lawmakers’ doling out scholarships as political plums — most recently in September when the Tribune found legislators gave at least 140 scholarships to relatives of their campaign donors from 2003 to 2008.<\/p>\n

Legislators get two four-year scholarships each year, which they carve up any way they choose. Most divide them into eight one-year awards that waive tuition and fees at state schools.
<\/br>
<\/br>In 2008, the lawmakers awarded 1,509 scholarships totaling $12.5 million, or an average of $8,300 apiece.<\/p>\n

The Illinois House also approved legislation to ban the scholarships altogether, but House members were unsure the measure would be called for a vote in the Senate.<\/p>\n

A spokeswoman for Senate President John Cullerton, D-Chicago, said today that the Senate doesn’t have immediate plans to vote on the issue again this session.<\/p>\n

Senate Minority Leader Christine Radogno, R-Lemont, said she "absolutely" wants the Senate to vote on the scholarship program ban. She pushed her own bill to ban the scholarships but was blocked by Senate Democrats when Cullerton sponsored and passed the restrictions as an alternative to eliminating the program.
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<\/br>Radogno, who has suspended her participation in the scholarship program, called the legislation’s set of restrictions "wholly inadequate."
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<\/br>"It’s more evidence that, even when we have a simple opportunity to clean things up in this state, the Democrats refuse to do it," Radogno said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Posted by Ray Long at 12:44 p.m.; last updated at 1:41 p.m. SPRINGFIELD — State lawmakers today approved legislation that would put new restrictions on a much-criticized, century-old legislative scholarship program in which the perks sometimes went to to relatives, cronies and political donors. While the measure contains provisions designed to curb those practices, it […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3992,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-420943","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/420943","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3992"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=420943"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/420943\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=420943"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=420943"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=420943"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}