Hope & History Rhyme

BOSTON (Associated Press) — Two U.S. federal regulators who sounded early warnings on the financial crisis and a Liberian peace activist will receive the 2009 the John F. Kennedy Profile in Courage Award.

The awards will be presented Monday by Caroline Kennedy at a ceremony at Boston’s John F. Kennedy Presidential Library and Museum.

Among those to receive honors is Sheila Bair, chairwoman of the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp., who was one of the first to warn about the subprime lending crisis.

Brooksley Born, former chairwoman of the Commodity Futures Trading Commission, will be honored for warning a decade ago about unregulated financial contracts.

Leymah Gbowee (LAY’-mah BOH’-wee) also will receive an award for organizing a multifaith group of woman to help end Liberia’s civil war.

By MONIQUE GARCIA

The Chicago Tribune

Gov. Pat Quinn predicted Sunday that ethics proposals to clean up state government won’t be voted on by lawmakers until the final, frenzied moments of the spring session in two weeks, when critical legislation is often pushed through with little review in order to beat the clock.

With lawmakers scheduled to adjourn for the summer by May 31, there is still little clarity on exactly what lawmakers are preparing to vote on after weeks of discussions about ethics changes ranging from transparency to fundraising restrictions.

“I don’t think a lot of these matters will be resolved until two weeks from today,” Quinn told the Tribune after speaking at citizens forum in Highland Park. “[I] figure 15 minutes to midnight, most of the stuff will get voted on.”

http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/local/chi-illinois-reform-18-may18,0,365860.story

HIGHLAND PARK–Illinois Governor Patrick Quinn pledged Sunday to seek $200 million in funding for affordable housing before a crowd of community organizers at Congregation Solel in

Highland Park.  The Governor’s commitment comes after he originally proposed $25 million for affordable housing programs as part of a capital projects bill currently being negotiated in

Springfield.

In March, Quinn had met with the same groups: United Power for Action and Justice, DuPage United, Lake County United and Public Action for Change Today and agreed to a dialog on budgetary and ethics reform measures that the Governor has submitted to the General Assembly.  At the March meeting Quinn was challenged to seek $500 million for housing.

The Governor has proposed a $26 billion capital projects bill.  The money from capital projects legislation traditionally goes to construction and repairs to schools, roads, bridges and other infrastructure projects.  A capital projects bill is different from the primary state budget in that the state can borrow money, through bonds, to finance the projects over many years.

Also at the meeting Sunday, Patrick Collins, Chairman of the Illinois Reform Commission, called for citizens to contact their legislators and urge support for the commission’s recommended changes to the campaign finance and political processes.

“These next two weeks are truly a battle for the soul of Illinois,” Collins told the crowd estimated by organizers at about 800 people.

Collins recalled the arrest of former Governor Rod Blagojevich and how some legislators at the time called the incident an unprecedented integrity crisis.  “The question is: are we going to have an unprecedented response to the crisis,” Collins said.

“A lot of our legislators have political capital,” Collins added.  “We need them to use that on this issue.  This is a fundamental issue; that we need integrity in government.  We need an unprecedented response.  And if we don’t get an unprecedented response, then we should remember that in 2010 when we go to the polls.”

Collins said he expects that legislation based on the Illinois Reform Commission recommendations will be voted on Friday by committees in the General Assembly.  State Senator Susan Garrett (D-Lake