We don’t do enough blogging here at Political Fix about happenings on the Illinois side of the river.

That said, this morning’s paper carried a dispatch from our own Kevin McDermott in Springfield about the potential for a “pay-to-play” ethics reform bill to actually be put into effect.

Most everybody in Illinois politics has called for ethics reform at one time or another. Sen. Barack Obama likes to say on the trail that he was involved reform of the state’s system when he was still a state senator.

But the various forces have had trouble getting past hopes and wishes. And given the acrimony in state government in Springfield in recent years, critics of the system have often wondered if it would happen in the foreseeable future.

For those who don’t know, Illinois has practically no rules on campaign finance. There are some disclosure requirements, but anyone can give anything to anybody.

That has helped the state blaze all sorts of trails in state campaign funding. In 2004, two candidates for state supreme court spent roughly $9 million between them (a national record for a single judicial race). Democrat Gov. Rod Blagojevich spent more than $25 million in his 2006 reelection campaign.

But ethics reform is more of a pressing issue these days, with the immediate past governor, Republican George Ryan, sitting in federal prison, and a top Blagojevich fundraiser presently on trial.

The key component state lawmakers are looking at would bar state contractors from giving money to the executive officer who overseas the contract held. Court testimony and various investigative reporting projects have shown a pattern where big donors often receive juicy contracts.

The ethics bill passed the Senate unanimously — not an easy task in bitterly divided Springfield. But the session is scheduled to wind down this coming week, which means the House will have to act fast.

And Blagojevich has hinted at a veto; his staff says it doesn’t go far enough, but critics say that’s a dodge aimed at keeping no-holds-barred fundraising in place.

Stay tuned.