Fromthe Collin Corbett gubernatorial campaign:
With Illinois Legislative Inspector General Michael McCuskey Out, Springfield Should Completely Overhaul State Ethics Oversight
Collin Corbett Proposes a Unified Independent Commission
PALATINE, IL — Following the announcement that Michael McCuskey is no longer serving as the Legislative Inspector General, Independent Candidate for Illinois Governor Collin Corbett is calling for JB Pritzker and Springfield to use this moment to finally push forward real ethics reform in Illinois.
“We cannot let this moment pass without pushing for real ethics reform in Illinois,” said Collin. “Illinois is just one of four states with a separate legislative ethics commission and the only one where the legislature picks the members. In this state, the politicians control who oversees them. Illinois does not have independent watchdogs investigating fraud, waste, abuse, or misconduct in state government. It’s time to change that.”
The Independent gubernatorial ticket is proposing a unified independent commission that oversees all state-level elected officials and state employees, similar to the Florida Commission on Ethics. This commission would combine all offices of executive and legislative Inspector General and both ethics commissions.
To respect constitutional separation of powers and separation of executive authority, dedicated Inspectors General (IGs) would be appointed within the commission to investigate specific executive branches and the legislature. As they do now, the IGs would conduct initial investigations, though now they would submit their findings and reports to the independent commission to conduct hearings and rule on disciplinary actions.
The commission and its appointed IGs would have full independent statutory subpoena power to compel documents and testimony during investigations. They would have an independent budget. And they would have independent authority to release reports after finding wrongdoing.
The commission would be made up of nine members. The Illinois Supreme Court would vet and submit nominees, from which the Governor would select one to serve as chair; the Senate President, Speaker of the House, Senate Minority Leader, and House Minority Leader would each select one; and the Secretary of State, Attorney General, Treasurer, and Comptroller would each select one. To fill IG vacancies, the Illinois Supreme Court would vet and submit nominees, from which the independent commission would make the final selection. Commission members and IGs cannot be sitting lawmakers, state employees, political party leaders or employees, or lobbyists.
“What we’re proposing is an ambitious overhaul of the entire ethics oversight system in Illinois. But scandal after scandal in Illinois has proven it’s time we finally take ethics seriously in this state,” Collin stated. “Though, let’s be real: this will never happen under the current broken two party system. The same partisan politicians who have refused to police themselves aren’t going to agree to real, independent oversight. That’s why voters need to elect Independent leaders like me and Carolyn in November.”
