SPRINGFIELD - Reform advocates hope Gov. Rod Blagojevich will still push for a campaign finance plan and do it soon, even though a deadline to introduce legislation has expired.

His aides say he supports federal-style laws that limit how much individuals and organizations can donate to campaigns. Blagojevich introduced a plan to enact such restrictions in 2005.

But because he made it public late in lawmakers' annual session that year, they didn't have much time to act on it.

"I would advise against doing that again," said Cindi Canary, director of the Illinois Campaign for Political Reform.

House and Senate deadlines for introducing most legislation expired in February, but Blagojevich spokeswoman Rebecca Rausch says a plan could still be coming.

"It's still on the radar," she said. But Rausch wouldn't release any specifics.

Last week, a report from the New York-based Brennan Center for Justice called Illinois' campaign finance laws the "worst in the Midwest."

State Rep. Harry Osterman, D-Chicago, has introduced his own legislation that would impose federal-style contribution limits. For example, an individual would be limited to giving $3,000 to a statewide candidate per election.

"There's too much big money involved in politics," he said.

Rausch said Blagojevich didn't work with Osterman on the plan and couldn't say whether he'd end up supporting it.

"We're kind of doing our own thing on this," she said.

Some lawmakers have been doing their own things, too.

A plan to keep hefty campaign donors from getting large state contracts has begun advancing through the General Assembly. It's backed by several state executives who want to end the practice known as "pay-to-play."

Whether lawmakers want to approve any kind of campaign finance reform this year is unclear. Some say that reform isn't needed, and others suggest that federal-style reforms haven't stopped big-spending congressional and presidential races nationally.

On Wednesday, a plan to use tax dollars to pay for the campaigns of some judges was approved by a Senate committee. Supporters such as state Comptroller Dan Hynes hope that independent money will keep the influence of campaign donors away from judges.

"We need to take special interests out of judicial elections and allow candidates to place the focus where it belongs, on their qualifications," he said.

Osterman's legislation is House Bill 3497. The pay-to-play legislation is House Bill 1. The judicial elections legislation is Senate Bill 222.

Mike Riopell can be reached at mike.riopell@lee.net or 789-0865.