GOP Wants Ethics Bill Redo, Dems to Proceed with Original Legislation
House Ethics bill sponsor Rep. Kelly Burke (D-Evergreen Park) says she will call a vote on finalizing Governor JB Pritzker’s minor Amendatory Veto of the legislation Thursday over Republican objections and calls to start the ethics process over again.
House Republicans say they want Democrats to throw out an ethics bill passed by the legislature in May and start over again. But the bill sponsor says that’s not going to happen.
The House surprisingly voted down Governor JB Pritzker’s minor Amendatory Veto of the ethics bill last week, effectively killing the bill unless it is brought back for another vote this week.
Bill sponsor Rep. Kelly Burke (D-Evergreen Park) says she is planning to call the bill for another vote Thursday to approve the Governor’s change and finalize the legislation.
But House Republicans held a news conference Wednesday calling on Democrats to throw the current legislation out and start over again and negotiate ethics reform that isn’t “watered down” or “toothless.”
Many Republicans, most of whom voted for the bill in May, point to the resignation of Legislative Inspector General Carol Pope as reason to start over on the bill. Pope criticized the bill, calling it a “paper tiger” that would take power away from her office and wouldn’t actually clean up corruption in the state.
“If we are ever going to get true and meaningful anti-corruption reforms in Illinois and true accountability for politicians, we need an independent Legislative Inspector General,” said Rep. Avery Bourne (R-Morrisonville.) “ The bill they passed actually takes away some of the jurisdiction of the Legislative Inspector General and limits the scope of the investigations that she can [conduct].”
But Burke, the bill sponsor, says more ethics changes can be made, but the legislature should make progress where it can be found.
“We have an excellent bill that has many needed reforms,” Burke said. “It was overwhelmingly supported by Republicans in the House and the Senate. We have a standing committee on ethics that will continue to hear and vet bills in the new session. So, let’s get this bill into law and then continue our work.”
Bourne says legislative Democrats and Governor JB Pritzker know they didn’t go far enough.
“This should really be a call to lawmakers to wake up and pass something that isn’t window dressing, but will actually get at the foundational problems that allow this culture of corruption in Springfield. We need something that will actually make a change,” she said. “To make matters worse, the Governor had the opportunity to use his Amendatory Veto power to change this bill and take away some of those parts that limit the Legislative Inspector General. This is totally unacceptable.”
The House needs 71 votes to approve the Governor’s changes.