Illinois Valley Times

State Rep. David Welter (R-Morris) reminded his colleagues in the House that a long time has passed and yet, no substantial bills have been passed to address the need for stronger ethics laws in Illinois.

He laments the lack of bills strengthening ethics laws in the state.

"Unfortunately, we have seen nothing from the speaker or the majority party on the issue of ethics reform," Welter said. "It's been 18 months since former state Rep. Louie Arroyo was charged with bribery and forced to resign from the General Assembly. It's been more than a year since the late Sen. Martin Sandoval resigned from the Illinois Senate and pleaded guilty to federal bribery and tax charges. It’s been 9 months since ComEd was charged in a years-long bribery scheme that implicated then-Speaker Mike Madigan yet no bills have been passed to strengthen our ethics laws in Illinois."

After being rocked with a series of corruption scandals that saw the state of Illinois became one of the most corrupt states in America, Welter called on the Democratic-led State House to take action.

"How many more cases of corruption need to be exposed before house Democrats act on ethics reform?” Welter continued. “Since assuming the gavel in January, Speaker Welch has said repeatedly in public that ethics needs to be a priority. It's been more than three months and we've yet to see one initiative introduced by his majority on this topic."

Welter also took aim at legislators who may be having issues of personal interests by closely associating with private organizations.

"While we’re on the topic of conflicts of interest let's acknowledge the need to ban legislators from simultaneously working as a lobbyist for the private industry and special interest groups. Allowing members of the general assembly to also be government consultants and lobbyists has created dysfunction"

He closed his remarks by making a strong emphasis on the importance of both Democratic and Republican legislators working together to create reforms in Illinois. Welter stressed that they should be able to come together “to root out corruption in state government.” He added that his side of the aisle has been “ready to work with the speaker to accomplish this from day one,” and the party looks forward  to when the House Democrats would be ready and willing to fulfill their promises with “meaningful specific action in the form of legislation."

Illinois is the second-most corrupt state in the country, according to a study from the University of Illinois at Chicago.  

The Illinois Policy Institute estimated that the state’s public corruption convictions cost the economy an estimated $550 million annually from 2000-2017.