Champaign Lawmaker Renews Call to End Legislative Scholarships

A Champaign lawmaker says he is afraid calls to end legislative scholarships will get bogged down in procedure rather than simply getting the job done.

Republican House member Jason Barickman's comments come in response to those by Democratic House Speaker Mike Madigan, who said Gov. Pat Quinn overstepped his authority by using his amendatory powers to try and abolish the program.

Barickman said the simple solution is to call for an up or down vote on H.B. 201, which does away with the program entirely. He said there's too much bickering by leadership in Springfield to end a program ripe with corruption.

"This single bill has resulted in lot of talk and no action," Barickman said. "Here we have an opportunity to do away with it, and because of the political jockeying, again we're left with the status quo, which means those legislators who continue to award these scholarships, by law, could give these to their relatives because of political jockeying."

Barickman is a co-sponsor of the House measure, along with Republicans Chad Hays of Catlin and Chapin Rose of Mahomet. Barickman said the numerous incidents of someone abusing the program, as well as Illinois' fiscal condition, should make the fall veto session the perfect opportunity to end what he calls an annual $14-million political perk.

Recently, a federal investigation surfaced in which three current and former lawmakers improperly awarded them. Reports have shown some of the scholarships have been awarded to campaign donors, close friends, and others who don't reside within a legislator's district.