Commission says the problems are not confined to Springfield

Posted on January 31, 2020
Nicholas Birdsong of the National Conference of State Legislatures says the rules on financial disclosure vary.(PHOTO: Dave Dahl)

 

By Dave Dahl

SPRINGFIELD– A day after the governor used his State of the State message to call for ethics reform, a joint commission on that very topic met at the Capitol Thursday.

Co-chair State Sen. Elgie Sims (D-Chicago) wants everyone to know there is no “culture of corruption.” Sims said, “Yes, we have bad apples. We have had individuals who have behaved poorly. But that is not the rampant perspective of individuals in the General Assembly. The reason we have a citizen legislature is because we have individuals who want to do the right thing on behalf of the people that they serve.”

As for one of the big ones hanging over the Capitol, “I wasn’t able to find any state that restricts the ability of state legislators to act as lobbyists to local governments,” said Nicholas Birdsong of the National Conference of State Legislatures, “at least explicitly in the statute.”

Another point of discussion Thursday: economic disclosure forms which are confusing and / or make it easy to simply answer “No” or “N/A” on many of the lines.

The Joint Commission on Ethics and Lobbying Reform meets again Wednesday.

 

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