Ethics Reform
Our elected officials swore an oath...
As State Representative of the 41st District, I will work tirelessly to restore honor, integrity, trust, hope and professionalism back to our State Government.
Illinois has a culture of corruption and unethical behavior that is prevalent in both political parties. For too long, elected officials have abused the trust afforded to them by its citizens. We must end the national headlines that have embarrassed our great state throughout the years and restore honor, integrity, trust and transparency back to elected office. That’s why I’m running for State Representative.
I believe in 1st Amendment Rights, but corruption in Illinois is so deeply rooted in our system that we will need to take some drastic measures in order to right the wrongs.
First, we must seriously consider limiting contributions made to elected officials. We must also revisit the idea of imposing term limits on elected officials. Even a generous term limit would help to eliminate some of the machine politics and “pay-to-play” antics that are plaguing our state. We must also consider alternative limits, such as limiting leadership terms in both legislative chambers. Funds controlled by the leaders of the House and Senate should be made more transparent with regards to contributions/revenues and expenses.
Next, most voters know that the legislative and congressional boundaries created by the partisan legislature are severely flawed at best. Gerrymandering by the General Assembly is the ultimate insult to the electorate. Modern mapping and demographic technology makes gerrymandering even more effective for the party in power and incumbent politicians. This abuse of power reduces healthy electoral competition and voter turnout.
The boundaries should be drawn by an independent, non-partisan organization. We must move away from the illogical boundaries currently establishing many districts. In order to effectively achieve this, a separate redistricting agency should be appointed from relatively non-partisan sources with requirements for adequate representation from all major political parties.
Last, the Illinois Open Meetings Act is not nearly sufficient because social gatherings are expressly not to be considered as public meetings, even with a quorum. This is unacceptable as it allows for continued closed door meetings. We recently witnessed this first-hand at the University of Illinois Board of Trustee meeting. We must ensure complete transparency and if a quorum is present, the Illinois Open Meetings Act should be in effect. Social gatherings must be open to the public if a quorum is present; however they should not be required to publish an agenda.
The revisions to the existing law addressing access to information that go into affect in 2010 are a good first step, but we need more in the way of transparency. We must assign responsibility for the process of FOIA requests and enforce punitive damages on violators in order for the new reforms to be more effective than the current procedure. Finally, another change would be to add legislative caucuses under the OMA. If transparency is the key to reforming corruption, then further changes must be made to the OMA.
