Lake County Gazette

Denise Rotheimer is asking for comprehensive ethic reform in the state after the indictment of former House speaker Michael Madigan.

“In August 2020, I filed a complaint against Madigan and was later informed by the former LIG, Pope's office that my complaint was referred to an undisclosed agency," Rotheimer told Lake County Gazette. "At best, Pope should have investigated the complaint based on the violations of the Ethics Act that I alleged. Given the recent indictment against Madigan by the Feds, the governor and legislators need to start taking ethics reform seriously. It's become obvious that the process is designed to protect 'the fox in the henhouse.'”  

Rotheimer’s comments come as Madigan has pled not guilty after being indicted on charges of running a racketeering ring involved in a $150 million bribery scandal. 

Illinoisans, according to her, "deserve an independent, equitable, and transparent process that removes the appearance of any conflicts of interest by having legislators serve on a commission as the arbiters of other legislators."

"Immediately following the outcome of an abuse of power complaint I filed nearly six years ago against former state Sen. Ira I. Silverstein, I authored the Complainant Bill of Rights which was passed into law unanimously in August 2019," Rotheimer said. "However, these rights were limited by the Democratic leadership and the bill's sponsor, state Sen. Melinda Bush to complaints of sexual harassment, discrimination, and other forms of harassment. There are many opportunities of abuse that legislators act on to abuse their position of power in violation of the Ethics Act beyond sexual harassment, discrimination, and other forms of harassment. Therefore, we need to implement true ethics reform and afford all complainants with rights and establish a Legislative Ethics Commission that is made up of independent individuals, not legislators.”

Rotheimer first called for Madigan’s resignation in the face of a sexual harassment scandal. She said Madigan purposefully mishandled her complaint with the hopes she would go away. Approximately 27 such complaints were handled that way. Rotheimer also remembers the time she worked as a lobbyist and seeking to get bills passed, former state Sen. Ira Silverstein, a Democrat who represented District 8 from 1999-2019, made unwanted comments about her appearance and called her late at night to make inappropriate suggestions.

She emphasized that Illinoisans deserve better and should not be betrayed by anyone, particularly by elected officials "especially since they have asked much of us to sacrifice while failing to make the smallest effort on their part to ensure an independent, equitable and transparent Ethics process that would restore the people's trust in our government.”

“The Democratic leadership including Gov. Pritzker have failed the people of Illinois by failing to pass true ethics reform," Rotheimer said. 

Former Legislative Inspector General Carol Pope resigned from the position last year, citing its ineffectiveness. Pope resigned as the General Assembly enacted a law restricting the LIG's powers even more. Her resignation was interpreted by some as an indictment of the entire system.