Chicago City Wire

State Rep. Kelly Cassidy, (D-Chicago) talked about ethics reform during a webinar that was hosted by The League of Women Voters of Illinois.

Cassidy briefly introduced the significance of the ethics reform stating that trust in the Illinois government is needed.

“There have been a lot of events that have undermined the trust that folks have in our government, the news of the dump of hundreds of pages of emails in the ComEd case alone spoke to what folks really think about what happens in Springfield,” Cassidy said.

One of the things that the State Representative focused on was the lobbying reform which includes prohibiting legislator-lobbyists, cease the legislator-lobbyist revolving door, and better define who is a lobbyist.

“Within the section of lobbying reform, there is the perception, and in many cases, the reality that there is a constant revolving door,” she continued. “People retire from the general assembly and within the same session even, can show up on behalf of a client.”

Cassidy explained further that such occasions bring confusions and vague directions.

“There have been several instances over, even the course of my time in the general assembly where it’s unclear which role somebody was in when they did things because there was so little space between the two,” she said. Hence, there is a need to create a “cooling-off period.”

Legislative reform and leadership reform were also discussed during the webinar.