Galesburg Reporter

Calling Illinois' recently vacant legislative inspector general post 'a disgrace,' Republican state Sen. Jil Tracy says her party will push for Springfield reform with renewed vigor.

“The Republican caucus has a long history of supporting ethics reform, but today we are rededicating ourselves to fight the government corruption that has flourished under the Capitol Dome for years,” Tracy said during a news conference regarding the resignation of Legislative Inspector General (LIG) Carol Pope. “We’ve made some progress in the last year, but in the last six months Democrat lawmakers have done what they can to stymie the process and our progress.”

As minority spokesperson for the Senate Ethics Committee, Tracy notes that no one will be positioned to answer complaints or investigate them.     

“The last quarterly report issued by our Inspector General mentions that as of Dec. 23, she has a complaint but she didn't open it because she felt like it was up to the next Inspector General to proceed as they saw fit,” Tracy added. “So, it highlights just how important it is that we have an LIG in place, acting, with no gaps in the service. We had a search committee appointed by the four leaders last fall to interview the candidates that made application. Carol Pope made it clear July 14 that she would be leaving the post of LIG effective Dec. 15. So, the time of veto session presented the perfect opportunity for us to name and get in place a Legislative Inspector General. However, the process was thwarted by the Democrats on the legislative ethics commission.”

In announcing her planned exit, Pope, a former appellate court judge, expressed growing frustration with a lack of power to investigate unethical conduct by state lawmakers and an ethics reform bill being weighed by Gov. J.B. Pritzker that she considered counterproductive. Before Pope, the General Assembly went four years without a permanent inspector general, according to ABC 20.

“It is a terrible disservice to the public from this situation we’re finding ourselves,” Tracy added. “Obviously, it's clear that legislative ethics is not a priority of the Democratic majority powers. It is to us, the Senate Republicans, and the House Republicans as well. We're going to try to keep making the public aware that there is not a method in place right now. There's not a person in place that will receive their complaints, but we're going to keep trying to get this rectified. It’s a disgrace to the people of Illinois who trust us.”

Tracy said she now plans to file Senate Bill 3030, which seeks to grant the LIG more powers while paving the way for greater transparency.

“Senate Bill 3030 will give us more transparency, it would publish minutes, I know it's been a confusing process the way that LEC (Legislative Ethics Commission) operates, and I think we can operate with the same amount of confidentiality and retraction of names when a complaint has not been founded, but still there are ways that we can publish minutes and let the public hear our meetings and the like,” she said. “I think that would allow us to operate in a better manner and of course, all three of the past inspector generals have asked that they have subpoena power. Senate Bill 3030 would allow for that.”

In her resignation letter, Pope charged to ABC 20 that the LIG “has no real power to effect change or shine a light on ethics violations.” She added the position “is essentially a paper tiger.”

Pope told The State Journal-Register she hopes the LIG comes to have the power to issue subpoenas and reports without having to first get the approval of the bipartisan Legislative Ethics Commission that is comprised of three Democrat and four Republican lawmakers, and a former Democrat lawmaker.

“I think it will be difficult to find someone of high integrity to take the job because of the limitations in the statute,” adding that since testifying in front of the Joint Commission on Ethics Reform nearly two years ago, all of the concerns she raised about her office “are still unimproved today” with the exception of a provision in HB 539 that would let the inspector general initiate an investigation without prior approval from the Legislative Ethics Commission.