Illinois Valley Times

State Sen. Sue Rezin (R-Elmhurst) is leading the charge of Republican lawmakers demanding that the Illinois' Joint Commission on Ethics and Lobbying Reform immediately resumes regularly meeting to deal with the burning issue of ethics reforms.

"If (the Joint Committee on Administrative Rules) has been able to hold in-person hearings for the last several months to address the administration's controversial emergency rules, then I am confident that the Joint Commission on Ethics and Lobbying Reform can determine a way to meet safely,” Rezin said. "It is unacceptable that this commission, which was created to combat ongoing corruption, hasn't even met once since the start of the coronavirus pandemic. In the last year, we have had four Democrat legislators indicted on a variety of charges. It is time to stop making excuses. It is time for action."

State Sen. Terry Link (D-Indian Creek) is the fourth Democratic lawmaker to now find himself facing criminal charges. Facing tax evasion charges, Link joins former state Rep. Luis Arroyo, who faces up to 10 years in prison, and state Sen. Tom Cullerton, who has been hit with 41-count indictment on embezzlement charges. One-time state Sen. Martin Sandoval has already plead guilty to taking $250,000 in bribes from SafeSpeed, a red-light camera vendor.

And then there is longtime House Speaker Mike Madigan, who now finds himself implicated in an ongoing federal corruption probe involving ComEd where its alleged bribes were steered to several of his close associates as part of a pay-to-play scheme aimed at currying favor with him.

Rezin has long been sounding the alarm about the progressive tax, vowing to fight Pritzker to the bitter end over a tax she argues won’t ever come close to doing what the governor claims it will.

“Ultimately, this tax will hit the middle class just so enough revenues can be generated to balance the budget,” she told Illinois Valley Times. “By changing the tax structure, it makes it much easier for Springfield to raise taxes on people and make the path to reform that much harder to travel.”