Illinois Republican Party Chairman Andy McKenna used the occasion of the conviction of Democratic fixer Tony Rezko to call for repair of the “broken political system in Illinois.”

Yeah, well, we’ll see about that.

McKenna’s commitment to reform will be tested this weekend when the state GOP convention meets in Decatur to debate, among other things, freeing the party from that “broken political system.” It will be a test of whether the party’s Ins will be able to keep the party’s Outs out.

The party’s Ins are doing whatever is necessary to keep that system broken because it ensures the continue flowing (to them) of money and power. The Outs have the ideas and the conscience necessary to revitalize the party and liberate the state from its Rezko-like corruption in which both the Democratic and Republican brass wallow together. The GOP’s only hope for redemption is to yank control away from the Ins and give it to the faithful voters who adhere to principles of integrity and good governance.

The issue will come to a head when the convention decides whether to let Republican voters pick the party’s leaders who serve on the all-important state central committee, now a Medieval castle of arrogance whose walls have long resisted assaults of reform, integrity and common sense.

Under a proposal urged by a coalition of Outs, the Republican rank-and-file would directly elect the 19 central committee members, replacing an appointment system so arcane that it defies description, but ensures the Ins’ dominance. A law that would have restored the voters’ right to select the central committee’s members recently passed the Senate, but was snuffed out by the Ins of the House.

Some reformers believe that the resolution has a chance of passing, if the Ins allow the resolution to emerge from committee for a floor vote. Fat chance, even though there is no legitimate reason for blocking a floor vote, or for the full convention not to approve the change.

One of the objections to the resolution is the assertion that electing the leadership would allow Democrats, posing as Republicans, to infiltrate the party’s leadership. This is a laughable excuse; if anything the lock between Democrats and Republicans at that heightened level is so tight that Democrats might as well be on the Republican central committee now. And perhaps they are.

Consider the case of a GOP central committee member, one Rep. Angelo “Skip” Saviano, a Republican—and I use that word advisedly—representing the northwest suburban 77th district. If there ever were a stereotypical member of the sleazy bipartisan alliance of kingpins that Tribune columnist John Kass calls the Combine, Saviano would qualify. Although a GOP top dog, his political committee has given cash to a number of Democrats, including Chicago Mayor Richard M. Daley. His committee is amply rewarded for this “bi-partisanship” by receiving money from traditional Democratic sources, such as labor unions and an O’Hare Airport vendor. So, no wonder that Saviano sold out some of his own constituents to support Daley’s splendiferous airport expansion. Saviano solidified his role in the Combine; his constituents got booted out of their affordable homes on Bensenville’s east side for a runway that might never be built. Meanwhile the crafting of this shameful alliance of Republicans and Democrats to build Daley’s unworkable and costly airport expansion was the Combine’s crowning moment.

Saviano, I should mention, was one of the Ins that helped kill the direct election reform measure in the House. If there were a direct election, Saviano ought to be targeted as one of the first committee members to go, possibly over to the Democratic side of the aisle, where he belongs.

The Ins have marshaled all kinds of ridiculous arguments to retain power. One insists that direct voting would end up stacking the central committee with only the prominent and the wealthy. Essentially, it comes down to the argument that giving voters direct control over who runs the party will place it into the hands of amateurs.

As if the “professionals” who run it now have done such a wonderful job.

**
Dennis Byrne is a member of the Chicago Daily Observer Editorial Board.