From The Center Square:
Wrongdoing complaints against Illinois state employees jumps nearly 30%
(The Center Square) – The number of complaints of wrongdoing by state agencies under Gov. J.B. Pritzker has increased nearly 30% in the most recent annual report.
The Office of Executive Inspector General released its annual report for fiscal year 2025. The report found nearly 4,000 complaints, or a 29% increase over the prior fiscal year.
“These published reports also illustrate a continued trend of misconduct involving employees’ conflicts of interest and/or improper secondary employment,” the OEIG’s Illinois Ethics Matters newsletter for December said.
Asked about the report Monday at an unrelated event in Springfield, Pritzker said it’s good people are filing complaints.
“If employees were still employed by the State at the time reports were issued, the OEIG recommended their termination from State employment,” the report said. “Many employees resigned in lieu of termination; for those who did not resign, they have either been terminated or the disciplinary actions are still ongoing.”
The report also states the Illinois Attorney General’s Office has criminally prosecuted a number of the individuals for PPP fraud.
The report also highlights were two six-figure fines leveled against state employees after being found to have violated revolving door provisions of the state Ethics Act.
One high-profile case involved the former director of the Illinois Department of Public Health, Dr. Ngozi Ezike.
In January, the OEIG announced Ezike agreed to “a violation of the Ethics Act and the facts comprising the violation, in that she accepted employment and compensation from an entity which had contracts involving IDPH with a cumulative value of $4.2 million and over which she had exercised regulatory and licensing authority in the year before her departure from State employment.”
Halbrook said there needs to be more oversight from majority Democrats at the Illinois Statehouse.
“There’s lots of things that we need to get in the open,” he said. “We need to discuss and bring people to the table to sort this out.”
