By Illinois Radio Network
SPRINGFIELD – An Illinois Joint Commission on Ethics and Lobbying Reform hearing Thursday got into the nuances of elected officials prohibited activities, including what kinds of elected or appointed positions already elected officials can take on, but a Republican state lawmaker said she was concerned by the seeming lack of urgency to address corruption.
The commission was created amid wide-ranging federal corruption probes that have ensnared elected officials and lobbyists.
House Majority Leader Greg Harris, D-Chicago, said Thursday’s hearing was revealing.
“I did not understand just how many restrictions are already in law about persons holding more than one political office,” Harris said. “I didn’t understand how many of those situations were actually permitted by law.”
The commission has met several times already. The last hearing focused on the state’s various inspectors general and the Legislative Ethics Commission. Another hearing delved into the state’s lobbying regulations.
The next hearing is set for March 5.
“I think the last remaining chapter is Section 50 of the procurement code that deals with ethics and conflicts with the procurement system,” Harris said.
The commission is required to deliver a report with recommendations for ethics reforms by the end of March. Harris said he hopes to meet that deadline.
Later Thursday on the House floor, state Rep. Deanne Mazzochi, R-Elmhurst, said it seemed the legislature wasn’t doing anything about real instances of corruption, such as ghost payrolling.
Mazzochi referenced a 2012 email, first reported by WBEZ last month, that a lobbyist sent to members of then-Gov. Pat Quinn’s staff vouching for a state employee, Forest Ashby, who was facing a disciplinary hearing. Lobbyist Mike McClain wrote in the email Ashby had “kept his mouth shut” about a rape in Champaign and ghost payroll practices.
“Yesterday at the Public Appropriations Committee hearing meeting was the first time we have on our side of the aisle had an opportunity to actually ask someone from the administration what was going on with that,” Mazzochi said. “And as it turned out, this same person was given a $60,000 a year, no-bid job, based on his personal connections to the executive director of the Illinois Law Enforcement Training Standards Board.”
Ashby’s contract with the Illinois Law Enforcement Training Standards Board was suspended in January after the email made headlines across the state.
“We’ve called for investigations, and you’ve done nothing,” Mazzochi said. “You haven’t convened any committees, you haven’t done any investigations, you haven’t made sure that this is not happening throughout all levels of our government.”
“And I would like this body, because you said you were upset, you said you were concerned, to actually do something,” Mazzochi said. “This was two months ago, that you found out about this, and you’ve done nothing. It’s unacceptable, and I would really like to know when you’re going to finally tell your leadership that this kind of corrupt culture is not acceptable here in Springfield, and finally start doing something about it.”
Lawmakers return to Springfield on Tuesday.
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