Lake County Gazette

State Sen. Craig Wilcox (R-McHenry) has thrown his support behind a group of Republican members of the Joint Commission on Ethics and Lobbying Reform now calling for the commission to resume its work on ethics reform.

“We are long past the time for taking the issue seriously,” Wilcox said. “I join my Republican legislative colleagues calling for the commission to resume its work immediately.”

State Reps. Patrick Windhorst (R-Metropolis) and Grant Wehrli (R-Naperville) recently joined Sens. Dan McConchie (R-Hawthorn Woods) and John Curran (R-Downers Grove) at a news conference detailing how rarely the commission has met since the COVID- pandemic it.

Wilcox argues not addressing the issue is the wrong move at the wrong time, as evidenced by the fact at least three other Democrat senators have been indicted on federal corruption charges over the last year. In addition, longtime House Speaker Mike Madigan (D-Chicago) now finds himself at the center of a still unfolding probe involving ComEd and pay-for-play allegations.

“There are two 2019 studies detailing the extent of political corruption in Illinois,” Wilcox said. “One, by researchers at the University of Illinois-Chicago, ranked Illinois as the second-most corrupt state (behind Louisiana), and Chicago as the most corrupt big city in the nation. A second study by a professor at the University of Illinois’ Gies College of Business also outlined the huge costs of public corruption to employers that have to operate within a culture of public corruption.”

In an analysis of 2019 data, the Illinois Policy Institute recently estimated that the state economy loses more than $500 million a year to public corruption.

“The Joint Commission on Ethics and Lobbying Reform must resume its meetings and continue its important work,” Wilcox added. “I would also favor reconvening the General Assembly to take up and pass meaningful ethics reforms as soon as possible. Corruption undermines the public’s trust in government, and continued inaction only further erodes that trust. It’s long past time to act.”