Carol Pope originally stated her resignation would be effective Dec. 16, the outlet reported, but she extended the deadline to Jan. 6 to give the search committee more time to find a replacement. | Stock Photo
Carol Pope originally stated her resignation would be effective Dec. 16, the outlet reported, but she extended the deadline to Jan. 6 to give the search committee more time to find a replacement. | Stock Photo
Carol Pope’s last day as Illinois’ Legislative Inspector General for the state’s general assembly gave state Republicans chances to call out state Democrats for not using her office.
State Sen. Don DeWitte co-sponsored legislation to strengthen ethics within the state.
“After an initial impasse within the LEC to fill the position, Pope agreed to stay on until Jan. 6. Political gamesmanship continued, and the post now sits vacant,” DeWitte wrote on his website. “Until filled, the office and its staff will be empty, leaving complaints of wrongdoing unanswered and uninvestigated.”
DeWitte added that Democrats didn’t listen to Pope’s advice while as LEC.
“It is important to further empower the LIG to root out corruption in the General Assembly, and I signed on as a chief co-sponsor of legislation (Senate Bill 3030), which makes important changes in the way the LEC processes ethics complaints against state lawmakers,” he wrote. “Senate Bill 3030 will: require LEC meetings to be open to the public, and have the meetings publicly posted; no longer allow elected officials to serve as members of the LEC; and provide the LIG with subpoena power to investigate ethics complains against members of the Illinois General Assembly.”
The Office of the Legislative Inspector General in Illinois was established in 2003. People who suspect that a member of the General Assembly is engaging in any form of misconduct can inform the Office of the Legislative Inspector General, which will then carry out an investigation.
The most recent LIG, Carol Pope, announced her resignation in July. Her resignation followed the passage of an “ethics reform bill” that she said would not allow her to actually do her job. She stated, “This last legislative session demonstrated true ethics reform is not a priority,” according to WBEZ Chicago.
Four highly qualified lawyers were appointed to a search committee to recommend a new LIG, Capitol News Illinois reported. Rep. Jim Durkin criticized Illinois Democrats last month for rejecting both of the committee’s recommendations, leaving Illinois currently without a legislative inspector general.
Pope originally stated her resignation would be effective Dec. 16, the outlet reported, but she extended the deadline to Jan. 6 to give the search committee more time to find a replacement. However, no replacement has been found.
Alerts Sign-up