Senate Democrats Skip Deadlocked Legislative Ethics Commission to Name Inspector General
Former federal judge Michael McCuskey, pictured in 2013, was nominated by Senate Democrats Wednesday to fill the vacant Legislative Inspector General position over Republican objections that he hadn’t been nominated by the bipartisan and bicameral Legislative Ethics Commission. (Photo: Champaign News-Gazette)
Citing a deadlock on the Legislative Ethics Commission, Senate Democrats moved forward Wednesday with their own candidate to fill the vacant Legislative Inspector General position.
The job has been vacant since January when former LIG Carol Pope resigned. Republicans and Democrats who make up the Legislative Ethics Commission have been deadlocked on two candidates who had been forwarded for consideration by a blue ribbon panel that reviews candidates.
Senate President Don Harmon nominated former federal judge Michael McCuskey to fill the position, though he wasn’t vetted by the search committee or recommended by the Legislative Ethics Commission.
Republicans were critical of the handling of the nomination.
"By bypassing the process outlined in law that calls for a citizen search committee to review, vet, investigate, and interview candidates for Legislative Inspector General, the [Democrats] put at risk the public's perception of impartiality of this very important office that investigates impropriety by members of the legislature,” Senate Republican Leader Dan McConchie (R-Hawthorn Woods) said in a statement. “Bypassing the citizen oversight process set in state law is contrary to even Judge McCuskey's stated desires and interpretation of the law. This is not only uncalled for, but feeds into the mistrust that many Illinoisans rightfully have of their state government.”
Sen. Jil Tracy (R-Quincy), who chairs the Ethics Commission, said McCuskey was interviewed by the commission earlier Wednesday, and said McCuskey claimed he should be named “interim” LIG while he goes through the traditional vetting process.
“If we value ethics, we’ve gotta follow statutes and procedures,” Tracy said. “If we want to keep making attempts at being ethical, this gentleman should be acting LIG until he’s vetted, has an FBI check, and then, you’ve gotta open the application process again. That’s how the process is supposed to be in law. I don’t know why the majority party wants continually to rebuke policy and procedures, but apparently you do.”
But Harmon said the job needed to be filled and the Senate needed to break the LEC deadlock.
“The irony is this process is intended to avoid the very situation we have, a protracted vacancy in the important office of the Legislative Inspector General,” Harmon said. “We seek to remedy that with an incredibly well qualified candidate.”
McCuskey was elected judge in Marshall County in 1988 then to the Appellate Court in 1990. In 1998, President Bill Clinton named McCuskey to the U.S. District Court of the Central District of Illinois, where he served as chief judge from 2005-2013 while presiding in Urbana. After retiring, he returned to the bench in his home county of Marshall until retiring for good in 2020. He also spent seven years as Chairman of the Illinois State University Board of Trustees.
The Senate approved the nomination 37-17 on a nearly party line vote. McCuskey’s nomination must still be approved by the House.