Lake County Gazette

Rep. Tom Weber (R-Fox Lake) has called out the Ethics and Elections Committee chair for not allowing discussion or voting on ethics legislation.

“I sit on the Ethics and Elections Committee and the chair has refused to allow commonsense ethics bills to be debated or voted on,” Weber wrote on Facebook on Tuesday. “These are simple proposals we should all agree on, like banning General Assembly members and their family members from being employed as a lobbyist.”

Rep. Kelly Burke (D-Evergreen Park) is the chairperson of the Ethics and Elections Committee.

One ethics reform proposal, House Bill 2842, would have amended the State Officials and Employees Ethics Act to provide that “the Legislate Ethics Commission shall adopt no rule requiring the Legislative Inspector General to seek the Commission’s advance approval before commencing any investigation or issuing a subpoena,” LegiScan wrote.

Rep. Brad Stephens (R-Chicago) also called out state Democrats for their lack of action on ethics legislation.

“Democrats have continually shut down ethics reform efforts in Springfield, even after Madigan was implicated in a federal corruption probe two years ago,” Stephens wrote on Facebook. “Waiting for the next indictment isn't good enough, Illinois lawmakers need to be held to the highest ethical standards to end the culture of corruption in our state once and for all.”

The last Legislative Inspector General, Carol Pope, announced her resignation in July, stating her office was “essentially a paper tiger.” Pope wrote in her resignation letter that when she accepted the position as LIG, she had hoped to be “able to make a difference working from the inside.”

Pope called out lawmakers for failing to pass effective ethics reform legislation and stated, “This last legislative session demonstrated true ethics reform is not a priority.” 

The office of LIG had been vacant for more than 4 years when Pope took the job in 2018.