Legislative inspector general to quit, says ethics reform 'not a priority' for lawmakers

Frustrated with a lack of power to investigate unethical conduct by state lawmakers and an ethics reform bill on Gov. JB Pritzker’s desk that she considered counterproductive, the Illinois legislative inspector general said Wednesday she will resign in December.

Carol Pope, 67, a former Menard County state’s attorney and former circuit and appellate judge based in Petersburg, emailed members of the Legislative Ethics Commission to say she plans to leave Dec. 15.

Pope’s term normally would be up in June 2023. Before Pope, the General Assembly went four years without a permanent inspector general.

“The last legislative session demonstrated true ethics reform is not a priority.” said Pope, despite ethics reform legislation, Senate Bill 539, that overwhelmingly passed this year and was praised by Democrats and Republicans as a good first step. 

More:Package of government ethics reforms passed by Illinois legislature, sent to Pritzker

Pope, in her letter, said the legislative inspector general “has no real power to effect change or shine a light on ethics violations.”

She said the position “is essentially a paper tiger.”

Pope, a Republican and Melrose Park native who became legislative inspector general in March 2019, said the position needs more independence to be effective.

Those needs, she said, include the power to issue subpoenas and reports without first getting the blessing of the bipartisan Legislative Ethics Commission, made up of three Democrat and four Republican lawmakers and a former Democrat lawmaker.

She and predecessors Julie Porter and Tom Homer have said state law governing the position since it was created in the mid-2000s hampers the inspector general’s ability to effectively investigate, publicize and root out corruption and other questionable behavior by legislators.

Pope told The State Journal-Register she hopes the General Assembly, which selects inspector generals, finds a good replacement for her. But she said, “I think it will be difficult to find someone of high integrity to take the job because of the limitations in the statute.”

Since testifying in front of the Joint Commission on Ethics Reform in February 2020, she 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 without prior approval from the Legislative Ethics Commission.

She said the legislation actually would restrict the LIG’s jurisdiction “by requiring the filing of a complaint before the LIG can undertake an investigation. … This is actually a throwback to legislation that existed prior to 2009.”

The bill also would prohibit the inspector general from opening an investigation based solely on public allegations in the news media, she wrote in her letter.

In addition, she said, the bill would restrict the office’s jurisdiction to matters arising out of government service or employment.

“As I have explained repeatedly … as a result of this, the LIG will not be able to investigate conduct unbecoming a legislator that results from things such as posting revenge porn on social media, failure to pay income taxes on non-legislative income, and other conduct that I and the public think the LIG should be able to investigate,” Pope said.

More:Inspector general wants tighter conflict-of-interest laws for Illinois

She said she believes legislators apparently want to “maintain the status quo.”

Pope previously recommended that two former top aides to former House Speaker Michael Madigan, D-Chicago, never again be allowed to hold state jobs. She investigated allegations against the men and accused Tim Mapes, a former chief of staff for Madigan, and Kevin Quinn, a former aide in Madigan’s district office, of sexual harassment.

Mapes, a Springfield resident, was indicted in May on charges of lying to a federal grand jury investigating allegations of bribery by Commonwealth Edison.

Madigan remains under investigation in the same federal probe but has faced no criminal charges.

The ethics reform legislation sent to Pritzker was passed unanimously by the Illinois House on a 113-5 vote and unanimously in the Senate in late May and early June, respectively.

In addition to the changes highlighted by Pope, advocates said the bill would bar elected officials from lobbying other units of government and interrupt the “revolving door” of lawmakers leaving and then returning to lobby the General Assembly, currently controlled by Democrats.

But the revolving-door section contains a loophole: If a lawmaker resigned with less than six months remaining in his or her term, the lawmaker still could become a lobbyist as soon as the term ends.

State Rep. Ann Gillespie, D-Arlington Heights, said after the bill’s passage that it “takes the first steps in addressing some of the most egregious scandals in our state’s history. It offers bipartisan solutions to re-establish public trust in our institutions.”

Even though most Republican lawmakers voted for the bill, the Illinois Republican Party issued a news release Wednesday saying Pope’s resignation “is another sign that Democrats’ feigned efforts at ethics reform this past session was nothing more than lip service.”

Senate Minority Leader Dan McConchie, R-Hawthorn Woods, issued a statement that said Pope “has proven to be a dedicated public servant representing the people of Illinois and their desire for a more ethical state government. Her job was difficult in a state that has a history of legislator misconduct. I wish her well and look forward to helping find a successor to carry this important mission forward.”

Sen. Jil Tracy, R-Quincy, chairwoman of the ethics commission, said in a statement: “I know the toll public corruption has taken on Illinois’ resources and talents. This legislative inspector general has done an outstanding job, and we thank her for her commitment to better government. Our caucus has long supported her efforts.”

Both McConchie and Tracy voted for SB 539.     

Democratic Reps. Kelly Burke of Evergreen Park and Maurice West of Rockford, both members of the ethics commission and both of whom voted for SB 539, issued a joint statement after Pope’s resignation.

“We thank Carol Pope for her service to the state of Illinois in this vital position, and we are committed to filling this vacancy quickly and thoughtfully,” they said.

“The ethics reform package, which passed nearly unanimously this spring, is an excellent first step, and we have always been committed to further conversations that will continue to rebuild trust back in our state government,” they said. “We do thank Ms. Pope for detailing some of her concerns in her resignation letter, but we feel confident that many are addressed in the new ethics package — or through law enforcement, which is the proper and just avenue for criminal activity outside the purview of official duties.”

Contact Dean Olsen: dolsen@gannett.com; (217) 836-1068; twitter.com/DeanOlsenSJR.