South Central Reporter

There is a need to ‘institute the strongest anti-corruption safeguards’ state Rep. Blaine Wilhour (R-Beecher City) said.

He demanded better action from the assembly to fight corruption.

“Something like six members of the General Assembly have been indicted for corruption over the last couple of years and we can't even do simple things like legislator-to -obbyist provisions?” Wilhour asked. “They're an embarrassment. The legislature inspector general empowerment? There's no empowerment here for the watchdog that is supposed to have independence and watching corruption in this body. It's a complete joke. It's an embarrassment to the people of Illinois.”

Wilhour challenged colleagues to better stand up for Illinoisans and place comprehensive measures.

“There's nothing in here on conflicts of interest,” he said. “There's nothing on recusals in this thing. There's nothing that prevents lawmakers from using their public position for personal profit. You know this is simple stuff here and it just makes me ask on behalf of the taxpayers, the citizens in Illinois, is this the best that we can do? Is this the best that we can do?”

He considers that both state Houses are susceptible to extreme corruption, harboring shame for the state of Illinois.

“Restoring trust and credibility to this General Assembly should've been our number one priority on day one when we came back here,” he said. “It should have been our priority a long time ago but it's not. Right now, we have no trust, we have no credibility with the citizens in this state. The citizens don't trust the people in this body and they shouldn't. We don't deserve it. We haven't earned their trust on any of this stuff. The corruption, the self-dealing, the influence-peddling that happened here under this dome for generations – it's epic. It's been a national disgrace. A national embarrassment when it comes to corruption here.”

Advocacy groups like Reform for Illinois (RFI) encourages and empowers the community to be active in pushing for a transparent and accountable state government. It has been fighting for the state’s ethics reform for over 20 years.

The group seeks to make the Legislative Inspector General’s office an independent office instead of it needing approval from legislators to conduct investigations and publish reports.