Lake County Gazette

Veteran state Sen. Craig Wilcox (R-McHenry) is throwing his support behind GOP Sen. Jil Tracy’s (R-Quincy) call for a veto of a bill she argues falls short of bringing about the level of reform that’s needed in Springfield.

“I stand with leader Tracy 100% on this,” Wilcox posted on Facebook. “Senate Republicans filed bills this year that address every issue (Legislative Inspector General Carol) Pope mentioned in her resignation letter. Unfortunately, the Democrat chair of the Senate Ethics Committee refused to call our bills.”

Frustrated by what she deemed in her resignation letter to be a lack of commitment to reform, Pope recently tendered her resignation effective in December.  

A former judge and prosecutor, Pope wrote, “When I took this job I thought I might be able to make a difference working from the inside. I thought I could be useful in improving the public’s view of the legislature and help bring about true ethics reform. Unfortunately, I have not been able to do so. This last legislative session demonstrated true ethics reform is not a priority.”

Tracy singled out Pope for praise for doing everything she could to hold the General Assembly accountable, noting that since she took office in 2018 her work has brought to light more wrongdoing than any other LIG in state history.