East Central Reporter

The Illinois legislature is no stranger to ethical scandals. From longtime House Speaker Mike Madigan stepping out of his decades-long amid scandal, and former lawmaker Luis Arroyo being arrested in October of 2019 after he allegedly tried to bribe a senator into changing a bill to benefit his lobbying client, ethics reform is a top priority for many politicians. 

That sense of urgency, however, appears to not be shared with Illinois Democrats, to the deep frustration of Republicans. 

"It seems like every other day around here we see more Democrats from Chicago being perp-walked and there's nothing on ethics reform," Rep. Blaine Wilhour (R-Effingham) said in a May 7 press conference. "It's been 577 days since Arroyo was arrested, and still we haven't gained the courage and the commitment to do something so simple as banning legislators from lobbying."

The representative is not the only one frustrated. Concerned policy groups have joined the effort to dismantle the state's ethics law, including Common Clause Illinois. The activist group released a letter last January challenging Pritzker to act on the need for ethics reform. 

An 87-page ethics bill was discarded in the final hours of a lame-duck session, the letter said, but showed deep flaws in the ethics system, including spotty addressing of issues and no actual consideration to ethics concerns. 

"We’re not doing anything to put anti-corruption safeguards in place," said a frustrated Wilhour. 

According to earlier reporting by the Galesburg Reporter, state Sen. Jil Tracy (R-Macomb) also feels it is the Democratic machine who won't budge on letting ethics reform gain any momentum. 

"[We’ve done] nothing on making sure that the legislative inspector general has the real power to watch over this general assembly that has clearly shown itself to be susceptible to extreme corruption," Wilhour said.