Chicago City Wire

Rep. Brad Stephens (R-Chicago) says Illinois lawmakers need to be held to the “highest ethical standards.”

“Democrats have continually shut down ethics reform efforts in Springfield, even after Madigan was implicated in a federal corruption probe two years ago,” Stephens wrote on Facebook. “Waiting for the next indictment isn't good enough, Illinois lawmakers need to be held to the highest ethical standards to end the culture of corruption in our state once and for all.”

Stephens said this after Michael Madigan, former Illinois Speakers of the House, was indicted.

Madigan was indicted on March 2 for federal racketeering and bribery charges. A release from the Department of Justice said, “The 22-count indictment accuses Madigan of leading for nearly a decade a criminal enterprise whose purpose was to enhance Madigan’s political power and financial well-being while also generating income for his political allies and associates.”

Madigan is facing charges of racketeering, conspiracy, as well as individual counts of using interstate facilities to carry out bribery, wire fraud, and attempted extortion. The release notes that in addition to his role as speaker of the House, Madigan has also held the positions of representative of Illinois’s 22nd District, committeeman for Chicago’s 13th Ward, chairman of both the Illinois Democratic Party and the 13th Ward Democratic Organization, and partner at the Chicago law firm of Madigan & Getzendanner.

“Our elected officials swear an oath to carry out the duties of their office,” said Emmerson Buie, Jr., special agent-in-charge of the Chicago Field Office of the FBI, on the U.S. Attorney’s Office’s website.  “When they dishonor that oath, it erodes the trust we have in our officials to do the right thing for our communities, and the FBI and its partners stand ready to stamp out corruption at any level of government.”

Madigan pleaded not guilty on March 9, the Chicago Sun Times reported. He will appear in front of a U.S. district judge for a hearing on April 1.

There have been efforts to enforce ethics reform in Illinois. Gov. J.B. Pritzker last year signed Senate Bill 0539 into law.

“Passing real, lasting ethics reform was a top priority of mine going into the 2020 legislative session, and I’m pleased to move forward with an ethics package that includes a number of meaningful changes,” Pritzker said in a statement. “We must restore the public’s trust in our government and this legislation is a necessary first step to achieve that goal. I remain committed to making further advancements so the well-connected and well-protected cannot work the system to the detriment of working families across Illinois.”

The ethics reform bill passed last year took effect on Jan. 1. SB539 prohibits lawmakers from becoming lobbyists for 6 months after leaving office, bans political fundraising during legislative sessions, and allows the Legislative Inspector General (LIG) to investigate complaints independently. However, Republican lawmakers at the time said the bill does not go far enough in enacting ethics reform. LIG Carol Pope resigned over the legislation.

Pope felt her position had no power.

The Chicago Sun-Times reported Pope resigned in July, stating her office was “essentially a paper tiger.” Pope wrote in her resignation letter that when she accepted the position as LIG, she had hoped to be “able to make a difference working from the inside.”

Pope called out lawmakers for failing to pass effective ethics reform legislation and stated, “This last legislative session demonstrated true ethics reform is not a priority.” The office of LIG had been vacant for more than 4 years when Pope took the job in 2018.

There are efforts from Republicans and Democrats to handle ethics in a bipartisan effort.

With less than three weeks left in the spring legislative session, WBEZ reported that the odds of Democrats passing ethics reform legislation are “bleak.” Senate President Don Harmon (D-Oak Park) said that last year’s ethics reform bill went far enough. “Less than a year ago we approved sweeping, bipartisan reforms in an attempt to address many of the problems we’ve all seen. I’m proud of the work we’ve done, and I hope that it will truly make a difference both in practice and perception.”