For immediate release: 

For all inquiries, please contact:

Alisa Kaplan

Executive Director, Reform for Illinois

alisa@reformforillinois.org

Elizabeth Grossman

Executive Director, Common Cause Illinois

Ryan Tolley

Executive Director, CHANGE Illinois

rtolley@changeil.org

Good government groups renew calls for meaningful ethics reform in joint statement on the Madigan verdict

Chicago, IL – Former House Speaker Michael Madigan has been found guilty on federal corruption charges. It’s an important milestone in establishing accountability for the powerful. But it’s nowhere near enough to restore public trust and strengthen our democracy. Our laws and our politicians enabled Madigan’s decades-long reign, and this verdict just underscores the need for broad, systemic change in Illinois.

The investigations of Madigan and his associates revealed a pattern of behavior aimed at maximizing political control and personal wealth at the expense of the public interest. For too long, Madigan was protected by the walls of power he had built, using money and favors to ensure the loyalty of those around him and exploiting weak ethics rules and a culture that accepted corruption as business as usual.

Springfield lawmakers have the opportunity to turn things around. They took a critical step by finally ousting Madigan when his indictment seemed inevitable, but an ethics task force prompted by mounting scandals never delivered any recommendations, and the ethics package legislators enacted in 2021 was full of loopholes and fell far short of what was needed to deliver real change.

The Legislative Inspector General at the time, Carol Pope, resigned her post in protest, saying the bill showed that “true ethics reform is not a priority” for the statehouse. Governor Pritzker delivered eloquent speeches about rooting out corruption, but despite admitting that he “wanted more”, failed to use his veto power or bully pulpit to meaningfully strengthen the laws.

Both Governor Pritzker and legislators described the 2021 package as a “first step,” with the governor vowing to “push for [more] every single year that I’m in office.” But we haven’t seen any progress on these issues since then.     

For years good government groups have been advocating for common sense reforms that are the norm in many other states, including strengthening oversight by empowering the Legislative Inspector General’s office, improving lobbying regulation and revolving door rules, reducing abuse of our campaign finance system, and enforcing conflict of interest rules. A number of these policies would be new only to the legislature, already existing in Illinois’ executive branch and at the local level. 

We’re encouraged by lawmakers who have introduced robust reform bills this session, including state Senators Laura Murphy, Julie Morrison, Tony McCombie, and Jil Tracy, and Reps. Kelly Cassidy, Ryan Spain, and Abdelnasser Rashid.  

New faces have appeared in Springfield since 2021, and with this verdict, there are new opportunities for change. We hope lawmakers will follow through on their promise to continue this work and begin rebuilding Illinoisans’ faith in their government. Failing to fix our broken system will just leave the door open for the next Madigan, continuing the cycle of corruption, scandal, and mistrust that plagues our state. Illinois deserves better.

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