The best way to clean up Illinois' tawdry government is not in limiting who can contribute how much to candidates, but in strengthening disclosure laws as they apply to political candidates and people who do business with the state.

Stung by the testimony in the federal trial of Blagojevich ally Antoin "Tony" Rezko, the Illinois General Assembly has begun to make progress on a long-delayed bill that supporters contend would limit "pay to play" politics in the state.

We believe it also would restrict free speech.

Permitting the government to restrict how much money an individual or business can give to a political candidate is, we believe, no different than telling any individual how much money he or she can give to a political cause or organization, such as Amnesty International, the National Rifle Association or the American Civil Liberties Union. And that's why this newspaper, rare among those in Illinois, opposes most of the provisions of a pay to play bill that may be headed for a vote on the Illinois Senate floor this week. We believe the best way to clean up Illinois government is to not restrict individuals and businesses from being both politically active and commercially active, nor is it to punish those whose motives are honest. The government's role should not be to assume the worst and encourage limitations on all citizens. Its role should be to open up government and let citizens make decisions based on thorough information.

As drafted (amendments by Senate President Emil Jones are possible), the bill's primary aim is to prohibit businesses with contracts of $50,000 or more from contributing to the political campaign of a statewide officeholder awarding the contract or to a declared candidate for the office.

Jones, in suggesting an interesting amendment that could end up killing the bill, said he believes the legislation also should cover political parties. That is, businesses or individuals with state contracts shouldn't just be restricted from contributing to officeholders, they also should be restricted from contributing to political parties. That provision appears to be aimed at Jones' arch-enemy, House Speaker Michael Madigan, who also is chairman of the Democratic Party of Illinois.

The legislation does have one worthwhile provision: a requirement that businesses with more than $50,000 in state contracts, as well as those submitting bids of more than $50,000, register with the State Board of Elections. Information required would include the name of the business, its executive officers and its owners. All of that would be placed on a searchable computer database available to the public, much like campaign contributions are disclosed to the board of elections.

The best disinfectant for Illinois government is not more limitations on how people can participate in their government. It is in opening up the government to more sunshine, more public disclosure of how the public's money is being spent.