Senate GOP Wants Dems to Strengthen Ethics Bill
Sen. John Curran (R-Downers Grove), center, Senate Republican Leader Dan McConchie (R-Hawthorn Woods), and Sen. Jil Tracy (R-Quincy) discuss the need for ethics reform legislation to pass before the end of the spring legislative session.
After waiting weeks for Senate Democrats to unveil a final ethics reform bill, Republicans complained Monday about the delay and introduced their own ethics legislation.
The Senate GOP bill, which is filed after the Senate’s third reading deadline and will likely never get a hearing or vote, amplifies the issues the GOP has been focused on regarding corruption in state politics.
“We are wasting time. This is not a process that has been transparent,” said Sen. John Curran (R-Downers Grove). “And, with two weeks to go, the matter is now critical. We must pass meaningful ethics reform for the people of Illinois to move this government forward.”
From a Senate GOP release:
First, SB 1350 would allow the Illinois Attorney General (AG) expanded use of statewide grand juries. Current Illinois law only allows the statewide grand jury to be utilized in cases of drugs, gangs, and child pornography. SB 1350 empowers the AG to use a statewide grand jury to investigate cases of public corruption and streamlines the process by providing the AG with a tool currently only available to federal prosecutors. This simple change would empower the Illinois AG to investigate corruption in Illinois without depending on the federal government and FBI to investigate and make charges.
“For too many years, the corruption of a few legislators and other elected officials has cast a shadow over the good work being done by so many other lawmakers in our Capitol,” said Sen. Tracy, who serves as the Chair of the Legislative Ethics Committee. “We must restore Illinoisans’ faith in their government, and we do that by shining more sunlight on politicians’ activities and making it easier for prosecutors to go after bad actors.”
SB 1350 also amends the State RICO law to provide state’s attorneys the authority to use wiretaps to investigate crimes of public corruption. Currently, Illinois law does not allow state’s attorneys to utilize wiretapping for public corruption.
Under current Illinois law, prosecutors cannot even obtain judicial approval for a wiretap in corruption cases, because corruption-related offenses are not included in the wiretap statute. Thus, while state and local prosecutors can use wiretaps to aggressively pursue gang, drug, and gun offenses, they are barred from using wiretaps to aggressively pursue corrupt public officials, no matter how serious the alleged offense. This change would bring Illinois in line with other states such as New York, which allow wiretapping for a wider range of criminal activity.
The Senate Republican legislation also provides the Illinois Legislative Inspector General (LIG) greater autonomy to independently investigate allegations of political wrong-doing, by giving the LIG the ability to investigate and issue subpoenas without prior consent of the Legislative Ethics Commission (LEC), a panel comprised of sitting lawmakers. Current law requires the panel made up of legislators to authorize the investigation of their fellow legislators.
Additionally, Senate Republicans’ SB 1350 would ban legislators from lobbying other branches of state government or units of local government for compensation, by closing loopholes that allow a legislator to leverage their position as an elected official to influence action at another level to their own financial benefit. The legislation would also require that legislators wait at least one full year, or until the end of the current General Assembly, between when they leave office and when they become a lobbyist – whichever is longer.
The legislation also places restrictions on the use of campaign funds for legislators who become lobbyists or who are appointed to an office requiring Senate confirmation. The provision would ensure that legislators’ campaign funds cannot be used for personal financial benefit in lobbying or to assist in securing a lucrative appointment.
Sen. Ann Gillespie (D-Arlington Heights), the sponsor of the Senate bill, has not been willing to discuss the delay in the legislation with The Illinoize.
Rep. Kelly Burke (D-Evergreen Park), who is the lead in the House on the issue, told us last month there were disagreements about the length of a revolving door period, and many lawmakers supported tighter reporting of economic interests.
The GOP has criticized Democrats for a 6-month ban on lobbying after leaving office. The GOP bill has a one-year revolving door period.
“Our belief is one year would be a giant step forward for a state that has no revolving door ban currently,” Curran said.
Senate GOP Leader Dan McConchie (R-Hawthorn Woods) says he’s frustrated at the Governor’s lack of input in the issue thus far.
“The Governor has sat idle on the sidelines,” McConchie said. “He has refused to put forward his own package. He has failed to address the flames of corruption that continue to engulf this state. We are tired of waiting. We are tired of the inaction.”
At an unrelated news conference Monday, Pritzker said he supports ethics reform, specifically a revolving door ban.
“I believe that we’re going to see an ethics package out of this legislature and I’m looking forward to seeing all the provisions of it. I have not yet,” Pritzker said.
