SPRINGFIELD - The guilty verdicts against former Gov. George Ryan don't appear to be pushing state lawmakers to tighten state ethics laws this spring.

As lawmakers returned to Springfield in the wake of Monday's landmark corruption case, some said a 2003 package of reforms should be given time to work, while others say the laws that Ryan was convicted of breaking would have been broken no matter how many changes are made to state election laws.

"The case that we're reacting to tells us that regardless of any amount of money, if people have a willingness to utilize relationships to get business, I'm not sure there are any laws that could be deterrents to that, because there are already laws," said Steve Brown, spokesman for House Speaker Michael Madigan, D-Chicago.

"I think people believe there are a lot of laws already in place now," added Oswego Republican Tom Cross, the minority leader in the House.

But watchdog groups say there are numerous ways that lawmakers could improve upon the state's last attempt at ethics reform, which happened in 2003.

Along with tightening rules for lobbyists, the General Assembly could take action to limit the ability of campaign contributors to win lucrative state contracts.

David Morrison of the Illinois Campaign for Political Reform said the spring legislative session hasn't given him a lot of hope that much will change.

"I don't have any strong sense that anything is going to happen," Morrison said.

If nothing else, he said the Ryan verdict put government workers on notice that prosecutors are willing to go after everyone from the state's top executives to lower-level bureaucrats.

"It doesn't matter how far down the totem pole you are," said Morrison.

Gov. Rod Blagojevich was among those pointing to the 2003 ethics rewrite as an example that elected officials have taken steps to crack down on corruption.

"We've got aggressive independent inspector generals with statuatory powers of subpoena, resources and staff to police the system the system here," Blagojevich said Tuesday. "That's a significant difference from what happened with my predecessor."

State Rep. Patrick Verschoore summed up what a lot of his colleagues were saying.

"It's going to put a black mark on everybody, regardless if you are ethical or not ethical," said Verschoore, a Rock Island Democrat. "I don't think I'm a crook."

State Rep. Chapin Rose, R-Mahomet, said lawmakers should allow time for the 2003 ethics bill to work.

"If somebody is going to break the law, they are going to break the law," said Rose.