Gov. J.B. Pritzker on Friday endorsed ethics legislation that aims to take on Illinois pervasive culture of political corruption, but used his amendatory veto power to return it to the legislature to correct what he said was a confusing “technical drafting error” that prevented him from signing it into law.
“Passing real, lasting ethics reform was a top priority of mine going into the 2020 legislative session, and I’m pleased to move forward with an ethics package that includes a number of meaningful changes,” Pritzker said of the measure.
“We must restore the public’s trust in our government and this legislation is a necessary first step to achieve that goal. I remain committed to making further advancements so the well-connected and well-protected cannot work the system to the detriment of working families across Illinois,” he said.
But Pritzker cited a small provision that he said added words that “confuses and interferes” with the “clear authority” of the Executive Inspector General’s office to conduct investigations into wrongful conduct. He rewrote the measure to delete the provision.
It will take a simple majority of lawmakers to approve of Pritzker’s change when they reconvene for the fall veto session in October. But his actions could spur greater efforts among groups opposing the package who had sought a total veto in favor of tougher legislation.
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Critics, even some supporters and Pritzker himself, have said the measure doesn’t go far enough and more work is needed. The state legislature’s top watchdog, meanwhile, found the proposal so flawed that she tendered her resignation in July, saying lawmakers had “demonstrated true ethics reform is not a priority.”
The Democratic-controlled legislature voted overwhelmingly in the closing hours of its spring session to approve the package that supporters described as a step toward restoring public trust that’s been diminished by charges levied against a host of former lawmakers, lobbyists and utility executives.
The measure would require additional disclosures from officials on personal financial interests, aims to prevent lawmakers from lobbying their former colleagues immediately after they leave office, and allows the legislative inspector general to initiate investigations of alleged wrongdoing without asking for the blessing of a panel appointed by the partisan leaders of the General Assembly, among other changes.
Sponsoring state Rep. Kelly Burke, an Evergreen Park Democrat, called it “a big step forward for transparency,” while the proposal’s Senate sponsor, Democrat Ann Gillespie of Arlington Heights said it was “a solid step forward in addressing issues seen in recent scandals.”
“Our plan closes many of the loopholes that have allowed bad actors to game the system for decades,” Gillespie said after Pritzker’s amendatory veto. “Our bipartisan team on the Senate Ethics Committee stands ready to continue this vital work to make our government work for everyone, not just a powerful few.”
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But the reviews from good-government groups, along with Carol Pope, who resigned as legislative inspector general, and Pritzker himself, have been mediocre at best, with critics contending lawmakers followed the longstanding Springfield tradition of responding to a scandal with a proposal that fails to fully address the problems that have been exposed.
Republicans who voted in favor of the bill called on the Democratic governor to veto it in the wake of Pope’s resignation, but he indicated in a July interview with the Tribune that he was supportive of it.
“What the legislature passed is progress in the right direction,” Pritzker said, acknowledging there’s still room for improvement. “You can’t go by the theory that perfect should be the enemy of the good.”
Gov. J.B. Pritzker speaks during a press conference in Chicago Thursday. (Antonio Perez / Chicago Tribune)
Government reform advocates have offered harsher criticisms.
“This is not a state that needs some brushing up around the edges,” said Alisa Kaplan, executive director of advocacy group Reform for Illinois. “This is a state that needs major change, and that’s not what we’re getting from this bill.”
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Reform for Illinois had called on Pritzker to use his amendatory veto power to strengthen the new law, which would have killed the measure unless lawmakers agreed to the changes.
Madeleine Doubek, executive director of CHANGE Illinois, compared the latest attempt at reform to campaign finance changes that were enacted after former Gov. Rod Blagojevich was impeached and removed from office.
“That was supposed to have been a ‘first step’ toward more substantive improvements,” Doubek said in a statement after lawmakers passed the bill. “Those subsequent steps never materialized and we cannot allow that to happen again with this effort.”
In a recent radio interview, however, Senate President Don Harmon dismissed such criticism as gripes from those he called “indignation profiteers.”
“The critics will always criticize, so we can never go far enough for the critics,” the Oak Park Democrat told WLS-AM 890 host Bill Cameron. “But there are organizations that raise money to criticize us, and then criticize us to raise money.”
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