Amidst an expected October trial of former Illinois House Speaker Michael Madigan, a legislator isn’t hopeful that meaningful ethics reforms will be passed.
A recent news report details how former state Rep. Scott Drury’s testimony during the ComEd Four Trial indicates Drury introduced a bill that would have imposed a longer waiting period on legislators who leave office to become lobbyists.
The report caught the attention of state Rep. Dan Caulkins, R-Decatur, who said Illinois needs ethics reforms.
“Madigan told him [Drury] to go pound sand. That, yeah, he’s a lawyer [Drury] and he can make money, but some of these people when they get out of the General Assembly they have to have some livelihood. And being a lobbyist or consultant and trading on their experience is their only skill,” said Caulkins. “Become a real estate agent, a car salesman, insurance agent or open a business. You know your district and your constituents, why wouldn’t you use that in the private sector?”
Reform for Illinois Executive Director Alisa Kaplan said Reform for Illinois pushed for a longer waiting period for legislators seeking to become lobbyists back in 2021 when the legislature created an omnibus ethics bill.
“Many lawmakers do expect to become lobbyists after their tenure or at least want to have the option of becoming a lobbyist after their tenure,” said Kaplan. “People are still allowed to hold jobs while they’re in the legislature, even though that introduces lots of opportunities for corruption. But we have this citizen legislature and many of them held jobs before they were legislators and many of them hold jobs while they’re legislators, and I don’t understand the idea that lobbying is their only viable job choice when they leave office.”
Kaplan explained that Gov. J.B. Pritzker did not prioritize amending a 2021 omnibus ethics bill to make the waiting period longer. Current law says state lawmakers are banned from registering as lobbyists within six months of leaving office. The six-month ban only applies when lawmakers attempt to lobby the General Assembly they served in. A lawmaker leaving office the day before a new General Assembly could forego the “cooling off” period.
“He just chose not to make that issue a priority even against the backdrop of all the investigations into Madigan and his cronies,” said Kaplan.
Kaplan said “common sense” reform would be to extend the waiting period for legislators seeking to become lobbyists. Admittedly, her organization hasn’t focused on lobbying reforms since the 2021 omnibus.
“We’re not asking to prevent them from ever becoming lobbyists, we’re just saying to wait a year or two years to address some of the cozy relationships that can occur when you don’t have those waiting periods and the problems that those [relationships] can lead to,” said Kaplan.
Kaplan explained there’s a loophole in current law where some legislators can resign early, and not serve an entire 2-year term in the General Assembly, and still lobby the same General Assembly they previously served in.
“We just want what a vast majority of states have, which is a one to two year waiting period for lawmakers before they can become lobbyists. There are only a handful of states that don’t have waiting periods,” said Kaplan.
Kaplan said Pritzker had openly said he didn’t think the 6-month waiting period was enough. However, Pritzker never issued a veto to amend the 2021 omnibus to reflect a longer waiting period for lawmakers seeking to lobby.
