Illinois Senate Republicans want to get tough on corruption

Posted on May 18, 2021
 State Sen. John Curran (R-Downers Grove). (Dave Dahl/WJBC)

By Dave Dahl

SPRINGFIELD – Wiretapping would have brought the Com Ed corruption investigation to a head much earlier, a state senator said at a news conference announcing a new ethics bill.

“There are 102 local prosecutors,” said State Sen. John Curran (R-Downers Grove). “Legislators go home, and these deals are conducted in secret. Local authorities there would be able to open a case and start investigating and bring it to the grand jury – but they would have to build a case.”

Curran and other Senate Republicans say Gov. JB Pritzker has stood still on ethics after promising reform during his 2020 State of the State speech. They add the Senate Democrats’ proposal is a start but leaves much to be desired, particularly in the area of the “revolving door” by which a legislator can quit the General Assembly one day and return as a lobbyist the next.

Dave Dahl can be reached at [email protected]

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