By Illinois Radio Network
SPRINGFIELD – On the final day of fall session, both the House and Senate passed a last-minute package of ethics reforms. But a measure creating a task force to research what kinds of other ethics reforms are needed passed with minority Republicans opposing the move in the Senate.
In the wake of one state lawmaker facing federal corruption charges, a former state lawmaker facing federal corruption charges, and another state lawmaker under federal scrutiny for a possible kickback scheme, plus federal raids, reports of wiretaps and allegations of improper lobbying activity, state lawmakers are moving forward with some ethics reforms.
Late Wednesday, House Democrats filed two measures. One deals with lobbyist regulations. Another creates a task force to further delve into the issue of ethics to find other possible reforms to be approved by the General Assembly.
Mattoon Republican state Sen. Dale Righter said the task force makeup essentially gives the majority of members to Democrats, something he said doesn’t pass the “laugh test.”
“And it won’t [pass the laugh test] at home,” Righter said. “We can sit in that room and we can talk as much as we want about employee duties and they’re really nonpartisan and stuff like that, at some point we have to care whether the public has faith in this system. And the public, with as little faith they have now is losing more of that faith by the day. This will only accelerate that.”
The task force will be made up by appointments from majority and minority leaders from both chambers and the governor.
Senate President John Cullerton, D-Chicago, said appointments by the Secretary of State and Attorney General aren’t meant to be political, despite the office holders being Democrats.
“You’re appointing somebody from the Secretary of State’s office, probably who understands how the lobbying registration thing works, right, so it’s just kind of, I don’t agree with him,” Cullerton said.
House Joint Resolution 93 passed the House Thursday 111-4. It passed the Senate with no Republican support, 32-18.
The other measure, Senate Bill 1693, filed late Wednesday by House Democrats that passed both chambers, deals with lobbyist regulations, economic disclosures, and creating a central database through the Secretary of State on such activities. That will allow the public to get the information from one website instead of visiting multiple sites to discover such information.
Dixon Republican state Rep. Tom Demmer said the reforms don’t go nearly far enough and feel like routine housekeeping on ethics laws.
“Convene a task force, come up with some recommendations; we’re operating obviously not in a business as usual kind of format now,” Demmer said. “There are federal investigations ongoing, indicted members of the General Assembly, this is a real issue. We can’t take a baby step like this. We need to address some of the bigger issues.”
Republicans complained they were left out of crafting the ethics reforms. For weeks, they’ve been filing legislation ranging from barring lawmakers from being lobbyists to increasing penalties for certain lawmaker wrongdoing and more.
One issue not addressed in the package that passed Thursday is limiting how quick a former lawmaker can turn into a lobbyist.
State Sen. Melinda Bush, D-Grayslake, said that issue needs more research.
“If you are a legislator and you are an attorney in Chicago, many of those positions have to be registered as a lobbyist, so there’s nuances,” Bush said.
Cullerton said a cooling off period is a good idea.
“I think that’s a good idea that the commission would [take up],” Cullerton said. “We might even expand this to cover some of the more controversial issues about maybe news organizations and whether who funds them and those sort of things because you know, fake news could be something else that might be undermining democracy, so that could be expanded as well … It’s just to be studied, that’s all, something the task force can study.”
No members of the media have been reported to be under federal scrutiny, but members of the Democratic caucus are.
Earlier this summer, state Sen. Tom Cullerton, D-Villa Park, was charged with embezzling from a labor union. He’s pleaded not guilty and remains in office. Also earlier this summer, the feds raided the offices of state Sen. Martin Sandoval, D-Cicero, as part of an investigation into an alleged kickback scheme. Sandoval has not been charged and remains in office. Last month, state Rep. Luis Arroyo was arrested and charged with bribing a state senator. He’s pleaded not guilty but resigned from office.
Gov. J.B. Pritzker said the reforms that passed are needed, but more needs to be done.
“This is much needed reform, but it’s not enough, and there is much more comprehensive ethics legislation that needs to be introduced and passed and will be,” Pritzker said.
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