SE Illinois News

State Sen. Darren Bailey (R-Louisville) argues the cause of Legislative Inspector General Carol Pope’s sudden resignation leads right back to Gov. J.B. Pritzker.

“The root of the problem leads directly to the governor and his Democratic cronies,” Bailey posted on Facebook soon after Pope tendered her resignation with plans to make it official in December. “We have lost the public’s trust in our state to do business and until substantive ethics reforms are passed nothing will change.”

Pope doesn’t see any of those changes coming about any time soon.

“This last legislative session demonstrated true ethics reform is not a priority,” Pope, a former prosecutor and judge, noted in her resignation letter. “The LIG has no real power to effect change or shine a light on ethics violations; the position is essentially a paper tiger.”

While Pope told The State Journal-Register she holds out hope the General Assembly will be able to find a quality replacement for her, she adds, “but I think it will be difficult to find someone of high integrity to take the job because of the limitations in the statute.”

To have any chance of being effective, Pope said the position needs more independence, with the LIG having the power to issue subpoenas and reports without first being required to get the approval of the bipartisan Legislative Ethics Commission.

Since appearing before a Joint Commission to offer testimony on Ethics Reform nearly 18 months ago, Pope said all of the issues she raised about her office “are still unimproved today” except for a provision in HB 539 that would let the inspector general initiate an investigation.

Bailey recently launched his 2022 run against Pritzker on a platform centered around pension reform.