April 17, 2009

Illinois Reform Commission to meet at SIUC

by Pete Rosenbery

CARBONDALE, Ill. -- The Illinois Reform Commission will hold its eighth meeting next week at Southern Illinois University Carbondale.

The meeting is from 10:30 a.m. to 1 p.m., Friday, April 24, in the Morris Library Auditorium. The Paul Simon Public Policy Institute is hosting the meeting, which will focus on aspirational and attitudinal issues and codes of conduct.

Commission Chair Patrick M. Collins, a former assistant U.S. Attorney who led the federal prosecution of former Gov. George Ryan, will be among commission members present for the meeting. Sheila Simon, another reform commission member and an associate clinical professor at the SIU School of Law, will also be present.

The public is welcome to attend. More information will be released prior to the hearing at

http://reformillinoisnow.org/.

Gov. Pat Quinn organized the commission to provide recommendations for cleaning up state government. The 15-member commission is to submit legislative reform recommendations to Quinn by April 27. A final report and a news conference are tentatively set for April 28, four days after the hearing in Carbondale, according to the commission’s Web site. The commission released an initial set of legislative recommendations March 31.

“The Simon Institute is delighted to host a meeting of the Illinois Reform Commission in Southern Illinois,” said institute Director David Yepsen. “The commission's work is critically important to the future of all Illinoisans. We look forward to having the group on campus as it continues serious deliberations on reforming state government.”

A town hall discussion is set for SIUC’s East. St. Louis Higher Education Campus, Building D, Rooms 1007 and 1008, from 5:30 to 7:30 p.m., Thursday, April 23. The meeting location is 601 James R. Thompson Blvd., in East St. Louis.

Previous meeting locations include Chicago, Peoria and Springfield, with town hall discussions in Champaign, Naperville, Rockford, Kankakee and Lincolnshire.