Lake County Gazette

State senator Craig Wilcox (R-McHenry) is criticizing Illinois Democrats for refusing to enact effective ethics reform despite the corruption in the state. Illinois was recently ranked the third-most corrupt state in the country.

"Despite the Madigan indictment and other indictments of high-ranking Illinois politicians, the Senate Ethics Committee did not meet even once during the 2022 session. Instead, leading Democrats chose to block a comprehensive ethics package filed by Senate Republicans. The Senate Republicans’ bills were never assigned to a committee. Ethics reform should have been a top priority during the 2022 session, and I will continue pushing for substantive ethics reforms to help clean up state government and restore the public’s trust,” Wilcox posted on his website.

A recent report has ranked Illinois the third-most corrupt state in the country, according to WTTW. The report, co-authored by University of Illinois at Chicago professor and former 44th Ward Ald. Dick Simpson, draws on data from the U.S. Department of Justice. In the Northern District of Illinois, which covers Chicago and the northern third of the state, 22 public officials were convicted on corruption-related charges in 2020. That number is actually a decrease from 2019, when 26 Illinoisans were convicted of public corruption. Some of the corruption cases detailed in the report are related to former House Speaker Mike Madigan and his alleged schemes with Commonwealth Edison.

Madigan was indicted on March 2 on federal racketeering and bribery charges. According to a release from the Department of Justice, "The 22-count indictment accuses Madigan of leading for nearly a decade a criminal enterprise whose purpose was to enhance Madigan’s political power and financial well-being while also generating income for his political allies and associates." Madigan is facing charges of racketeering, conspiracy, as well as individual counts of using interstate facilities to carry out bribery, wire fraud, and attempted extortion. The release notes that in addition to his role as Speaker of the House, Madigan has also held the positions of representative of Illinois’ 22nd District, committeeman for Chicago’s 13th Ward, chairman of both the Illinois Democratic Party and the 13th Ward Democratic Organization, and partner at the Chicago law firm of Madigan & Getzendanner.

During this last legislative session, Senate Republicans championed a package of bills that would have address ethics reform. SB 3636 would have empowered the Attorney General to utilize a statewide grand jury to investigate and prosecute public contractor misconduct. The legislation would have also amended Illinois' RICO law, giving wiretap authority to state’s attorneys investigating public corruption. Members of the General Assembly and their immediate families would also be prohibited from working as lobbyists while that person is a member of the legislature. SB 3030 would have given the Legislative Inspector General (LIG) the authority to issue subpoenas without prior permission from the Legislative Ethics Commission.

Former Legislative Inspector General (LIG) Carol Pope resigned in July, stating her office was “essentially a paper tiger,” according to the Chicago Sun Times. 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 said, "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.