Ethics Reform

The House Republicans are committed to restoring the faith people have in Illinois government. To that end, they have installed some widespread ethics reform measures.

These reforms include:

Requiring all Republican House members and staff to attend ethics training by attorneys with expertise in this area on what is and is not allowed to be done on state time.
Completely separating the governmental organization from the political arm of the caucus.
Hiring Paul Stack, a former U.S. Attorney and elected official, to serve as an Ethics Officer for the caucus. His role is to answer any questions that members or staff have on ethics and give a written opinion when asked.
Enacting into law, a comprehensive and far reaching ethics reform legislative package has been a sucess.

We will continue to do everything in our power to see that elected officials in Illinois conduct themselves to the highest of ethical standards. Recently the House Republicans have offered additional ethics proposals . They include:

Ironclad ban on accepting campaign gifts from big contractors ($25,000 or more). This ban will apply to all campaign gifts from all contractors with a total of $25,000 or more in State contracts with the office of any elected State official. If any elected State official who has authority over State contracts and who has signed or supervised the signing of a contract or contracts worth $25,000 or more gets a campaign contribution from the contractor, he or she must return the money within 30 days. If the money is not returned, the Comptroller is ordered not to pay the contractor.

For contracts worth from $10,000 up to $25,000, campaign gifts won't be banned but will be subjected to a climate of strict openness. For all contracts worth $10,000 or more in value, bidders will be made, as part of the packet they submit as part of their bid for the contract, to disclose all of the campaign contributions they made within the last two years prior to the awarding of the contract.

A reciprocal sunshine law for all campaign gifts of $10,000 or more. Current law requires all campaign gifts of $500 or more, given within 30 days of an election, to be reported electronically to the State Board of Elections and publicly disclosed. This system (called "the A-1 system") works well. We should create a similar system for all campaign gifts of $10,000 or more, no matter when in the election cycle they are given. They should be reported and publicly disclosed immediately.

Toughen up the Procurement Code. Closes loopholes in the Procurement Code by removing the right of procurement officers to grant contracts to shell firms, reduce the right to declare "emergency" and evade the rules of the Procurement Code, and repeal the ability of powerful officials to hide who owns and benefits from interests in the firms that are contractors to the State.