Ethics is a tricky thing in politics

The Chicago Tribune has an article about pay-to-play in Illinois:

Way back in April 2007, an ethics bill whizzed out of the Illinois House on a 116-0 vote. The bill made it illegal for businesses that have or want state contracts to make campaign contributions to the public official who would award the contract.
As Representative John Fritchey (Democrat from Chicago) put it, this amounted to "unilateral disarmament for the governor's fund-raising operation." Two-thirds of the Senate quickly signed on as co-sponsors. Blagojevich said he wanted to ink an ethics law. You would have thought it was a done deal. But Senate President Emil Jones said he had problems with the House bill. He couldn't really explain what they were, but he had problems with it. He said he'd write a better bill. He buried the House bill in the Senate Rules Committee. Senate Democrats kept promising a new, better bill. Some of them may have even thought Jones would let them write one. Not a chance. Jones is Blagojevich's best friend in politics. The governor didn't want this to become law because it would cramp his political style. Blagojevich raised almost $30 million for his 2006 re-election, much of it from contractors who depend on the state for work.
While the Senate stalled, things got hotter for Blagojevich and his cronies. Last December, the Tribune reported that federal authorities were investigating First Lady Patti Blagojevich's real estate business, and Chris Kelly, the governor's chief fundraiser, was indicted on tax evasion charges. In March, Tony Rezko, the governor's ultimate insider, went on trial on corruption charges. In April, the former head of the Illinois Finance Authority, Ali Ata, admitted he had bought the job by contributing to the governor's campaign.
Finally, the pressure got to be too much for the Senate. On 23 May, the Senate voted 56-0 to approve an ethics bill. The House promptly voted for it and it hit the governor's desk in June, 14 months after the House first passed an ethics bill.
Blagojevich said the bill wasn't good enough. He would improve it. He would rewrite it, using his amendatory veto power.
Instead he stuck it in a drawer. Three months later, Blagojevich announced he was making several amendments to the bill. That would force another vote in the House and Senate. The House quickly voted to override the veto. Give the House credit—at this point that chamber had voted three times for legitimate ethics reform.
But Emil Jones was in no hurry. This was September. He said the Senate could wait until November to vote. State law, though, seemed clear: The Senate had to vote within 15 days or the bill would be dead. Jones would take that chance.
There was a presidential campaign going on, and thank goodness for that. Barack Obama was getting flak about the strange nature of Illinois politics. John McCain pointed out that he had stood up to his own party—and asked if Obama had ever done the same. The Democrats' stalling on ethics reform was getting some national attention.
Obama headed off trouble by calling Emil Jones and telling him, "you need to quit screwing around". He probably didn't use those exact words, but that's what he meant. He implored Jones to call a vote on the ethics bill.
Blagojevich publicly chided Obama, saying he had fallen for a "ruse" by John McCain.
But the pressure got to be too much. Jones gave in and the Senate voted 55-0 on 22 September to override Blagojevich's veto and pass the ethics bill. It was done. Seventeen months after that first House vote. And that's how your government works. Pathetic, isn't it?

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