Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker
Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker
Illinois House Rep. Tom Demmer (R-Dixon) wants corruption and ethics to be at the forefront of the spring legislative session, and was therefore uplifted to hear Gov. J.B. Pritzker address the issues in his State of the State speech last Wednesday.
"I am encouraged by the talk of the need for bipartisan ethics reform," Demmer said. "We know corruption is one of the biggest issues in Illinois right now."
Demmer says the state's government has exposed several bad actors over the last several months, alluding to former State Sen. Martin Sandoval (D-Chicago) and former state Rep. Luis Arroyo (D-Chicago).
Sandoval pled guilty last week on bribery charges, admitting to accepting $250,000 in bribes from red-light camera companies, while Arroyo is expected to enter a guilty plea in the near future on a bribery charge from last year.
"We have had some glaring examples of real severe ethics problems," Demmer said. "We in the House Republican Caucus have been pushing ethics reform bills for the past several months and I was encouraged to hear the governor signal support for those today."
Demmer said it was important for Democrats and Republicans to work together going into the new session.
"We’ve got to work together to put us on a stable path forward," Demmer said.
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