Reclaim Illinois

Public Financing
Illinois offers no alternative to the special interest rat race; candidates are too often forced to choose between their constituents and their contributors.

Campaign Contribution Limits
While most states limit big contributions from special interests, and candidates for federal office are barred from accepting any funds from corporations and unions, nor more than $2,000 from any individual donor, Illinois has absolutely no limit on how much, or from whom, candidates may collect.

Ethics Reform
The State Employees and Officers Ethics Act of 2003 was a big step forward for ethics reform in Illinois. With the current Licenses-for-Bribes scandal still at the forefront of the public consciousness, now is the time for the next step.

Campaign Disclosure
Illinois' election laws are in tune with the election calendar. But at the close of the legislative session, when special interests are most eager to influence legislators, the public is left in the dark.

Lobbyist Reform
Illinois has over 2,800 registered lobbyists; more than 15 for every member of the General Assembly. How do we keep lobbyists from overwhelming democracy?

Media Reform
ICPR is organizing support for this national grassroots campaign to improve television coverage of candidates and elections.

Judicial Reform
Illinois judges are caught in a web of campaign contributions from litigants, complex bar evaluations, partisan slating and primary endorsements that undermine public confidence in the impartiality of the judiciary and threaten judges' independence.

Political Parties Active in Illinois

Constitution Party
The Constitution Party is a United States political party. It was founded as the U.S. Taxpayers' Party in 1992. The party's official name was changed to the Constitution Party in 1999; however, some state affiliate parties are known under different names. The party's goal as stated in its own words is "to restore our government to its Constitutional limits and our law to its Biblical foundations." The party puts a large focus on immigration, calling for stricter penalties towards illegal immigrants and a moratorium on legal immigration until all federal subsidies to immigrants are discontinued. The party absorbed the American Independent Party, originally founded for George Wallace's 1968 presidential campaign... (Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Constitution_Party_(United_States))

Democratic Party
The Democratic Party is one of two major contemporary political parties in the United States, along with the Republican Party. The party's liberal platform is largely considered center-left in the U.S. political spectrum. The party has the lengthiest record of continuous operation in the United States. The party contains the most registered voters of any political organization in the world as of 2004, with 72 million voters. Polls taken over the last decade indicate that roughly 35% of American voters self identify as Democrats.

Since the 2006 general elections, the Democratic Party has been the majority party in both the House of Representatives and the United States Senate. Democrats also hold a majority of state governorships and control a majority of state legislatures. Barack Obama, the current President of the United States, is the 15th Democrat to hold the office. (Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Democratic_Party_(United_States))

Green Party
The Green Party of the United States (GPUS) is a political party in the United States, and similar in mission to many of the worldwide Green Parties. The Green Party of the United States, a voluntary association of state parties, has been active as a nationally recognized political party since 2001. Prior to national formation, many state affiliates had already formed and were recognized by their corresponding states. The Association of State Green Parties (ASGP), a forerunner organization, first gained widespread public attention during Ralph Nader's presidential runs in 1996 and 2000. With the founding of the Green Party of the United States, the party established a national political presence becoming the primary national Green organization in the U.S. eclipsing the earlier Greens/Green Party USA which emphasized non-electoral movement building.

The Green Party in the United States has won elected offices at the local level; most winners of public office in the United States who are considered Greens have won nonpartisan-ballot elections (that is, the winning Greens won offices in elections in which candidates were not identified on the ballot as affiliated with any political party).[1] The highest-ranking Greens ever elected in the nation were: John Eder, a member of the Maine House of Representatives until his defeat in November 2006; Audie Bock, elected to the California State Assembly in 1999 but switched her registration to Independent seven months later[2] running as an independent in the 2000 election;[3] and Richard Carroll, elected to the Arkansas House of Representatives in 2008 but switched parties to become a Democrat five months after his election.[4] In 2005, the Green Party had 305,000 registered members in states allowing party registration, and tens of thousands of members and contributors in the rest of the country.[5] During the 2008 elections the party had ballot access in 31 states. (Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Green_Party_(United_States))

Libertarian Party
The Libertarian Party is a political party in the United States. The political platform of the Libertarian Party reflects its brand of libertarianism, favoring minimally regulated, laissez-faire markets, strong civil liberties, minimally regulated migration across borders, and non-interventionism in foreign policy that respects freedom of trade and travel to all foreign countries.

In the 30 states where voters can register by party, there are over 225,000 voters registered with the party. Hundreds of Libertarian candidates have been elected or appointed to public office, and thousands have run for office under the Libertarian banner. (Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Libertarian_(U.S.))

Independent (Voter)
An independent may be variously defined as a voter who votes for candidates and issues rather than on the basis of a political ideology or partisanship; a voter who does not have long-standing loyalty to, or identification with, a political party; a voter who does not usually vote for the same political party from election to election; or a voter who self-describes as an independent. (Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Independent_(voter))

Republican Party
The Republican Party is one of the two major contemporary political parties in the United States, along with the Democratic Party. Founded by anti-slavery expansion activists in 1854, it is often called the Grand Old Party or the GOP, despite being the younger of the two major parties. The party's platform is generally considered right of center in the U.S. political spectrum.

The Republican Party has the second most registered voters as of 2004 with 55 million, encompassing roughly one-third of the electorate. As of mid-2010, Republicans fill a minority of seats in both the United States Senate and the House of Representatives, hold a minority of state governorships, and control a minority of state legislatures. (Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Republican_Party_(United_States))