Kane County Reporter

State Rep. Martin McLaughlin (R-Barrington Hills) worries the way Democrats recently filled the Legislative Inspector General (LIG) post will set the tone for how ethics continue to be viewed in Springfield.

“Does anyone see the irony of the person responsible to investigate legislators being placed in the job in violation of law,” McLaughlin posted on Facebook. "Yesterday, the Democrats in the House nominated and appointed a Legislative Inspector General in violation of the required process called for by law. They didn’t care because they couldn’t get exactly what they wanted in a bipartisan fashion.”

With Democrats having banded together to install former federal judge Michael McCuskey as the replacement for former LIG Carol Pope, McLaughlin is among the Republican lawmakers pointing out the post is supposed to be approved by a bipartisan committee as opposed to the way he argues Democrats installed their hand-picked selection.

Senators voted 37 to 17 to appoint McCuskey to the post, essentially ignoring the objections of a bipartisan committee chair in charge of vetting candidates for the post. The resolution now moves to the House for a full vote.

“The person they seated now unfortunately enters the role tainted by the heavy-handed way they forced him into the role,” McLaughlin said. “This is completely unfair to the new LIG and those of us who still believe that laws matter."

McLaughlin isn’t the only Republican lawmaker sounding the alarm about process.

“What purpose is it that we put the search committee in the statute if it’s not to be the one to make the recommendation?” state Sen. Jil Tracy (R-Quincy) told Illinois Policy Institute. “Judge McCuskey is a fine individual and has a great career as a jurist. We don’t want to stall the process; we just want it done correctly.”

A former prosecutor and appellate court judge, Pope blasted the LIG office as a “paper tiger” when she announced her resignation. She said newly added reforms state lawmakers made to the office aren't enough to give it the authority she feels it needs to effectively perform its duties.

Among other things, Pope argued the office should have the authority to issue subpoenas and publish summary reports without needing to get the approval of the Legislative Ethics Commission (LEC) beforehand.

Tracy said legislation being proposed by Republicans would give the LIG such powers, adding Senate Bill 3030 would also require LEC meetings be open to the public and ban elected officials from serving as members of the LEC.  

At the time of Pope's announcement, authorities were in the midst of a federal corruption probe that ended in the indictments of lobbyists, past and current lawmakers and former House Speaker Michael Madigan’s chief of staff.

The Office of the Legislative Inspector General was established in 2003 to investigate criminal allegations against members of the General Assembly.