By Illinois Radio Network

SPRINGFIELD – The Illinois Legislative Ethics Commission will be a focus of the Illinois Commission on Ethics and Lobbying Reforms later this week.

After his office was served a search warrant Wednesday by Illinois State Police for information regarding sexual harassment allegations against a former state lawmaker, House Speaker Michael Madigan’s office said Friday it didn’t notify the Legislative Inspector General of the allegation for three months after the office received the initial complaint.

“On November 19, 2018, the Office received a complaint alleging sexual harassment involving an employee and a former Illinois state representative,” Madigan’s office said in a statement. “In accordance with the office’s policy, Speaker Madigan and the Chief of Staff were immediately notified and an investigation was initiated.”

When additional information about the allegations came out in March 2019, Madigan’s office said it notified the Legislative Inspector General of the complaint.

Advocates for giving more autonomy to the Legislative Inspector General from the Legislative Ethics Commission, a panel of lawmakers that oversees the LIG, have said the existing setup doesn’t give the body credibility.

The fourth meeting of the Commission on Ethics and Lobbying Reforms will be Thursday. The reforms commission that was created last year amid federal corruption investigations that involved elected officials and lobbyists. The group of state lawmakers and appointees from the Governor, the Secretary of State and the Attorney General is required to produce a report with recommendations for ethics and lobbying reforms by the end of March.

During last week’s hearing in Springfield, state Sen. Cristina Castro, D-Elgin, said there was a code of silence at the statehouse that needed to be broken.

“It should be that folks should step forward and report those instances right away,” Castro said. “And that’s how you stop the unethical behavior, that’s how you change the culture.”

Commission member state Rep. Grant Wehrli, R-Naperville, said as a member of the minority party he has seen ramifications for rocking the boat.

“I’ve been a vocal critic of the process around here and in return for that what has happened is I’ve had bills that just don’t go anywhere,” Wehrli said. “There’s abuse of the legislative process that silences those that dissent and have the integrity to call out what is going on around here. I take that as a form of overt bullying and it needs to stop.”

“When you talk about calling it out, yes I 100 percent agree, but every legislator knows that if they do that there are certain repercussions that are going to happen,” Wehrli said. “That is unacceptable, it’s unethical and that needs to stop.”

Castro is on the Legislative Ethics Commission, the group of lawmakers that fields complaints about other lawmakers.

Madeleine Doubek, with Change Illinois, said the Legislative Inspector General needs more independence.

“There is much more work that needs to be done to fully empower that legislative inspector general to be that oversight watchdog who can share with the public when these instances come up that need to be reported and dealt with,” Doubek said.

The Legislative Inspector General has the authority to investigate harassment claims, but must get permission from the panel of lawmakers to investigate other allegations.

Doubek said the inspector general needs subpoena power and the authority to make founded reports public.

“We’ve heard reports in this past year about some decisions that were voted on by the ethics commission itself to be not disclosed to the public and if we are to restore the people’s faith in their elected officials and their government and the vast majority of you who try to do the right thing, that needs to change,” Doubek said.

Last year, lawmakers gave the inspector general some autonomy, but the inspector general still must get permission to investigate most types of claims and any founded reports must be approved by the panel of lawmakers.

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