South Central Reporter

Sen. Jason Plummer (R-Vandalia) worries about what could be coming next in Springfield.

“For those in Illinois that want to win the war on the systemic corruption that plagues our great state, this is a real setback,” Plummer posted on Facebook. “Our Legislative Inspector General, Carol Pope, brought to this position the independence and willingness to start addressing this culture of corruption.”

Citing a lack of commitment to real ethics reform, Pope recently announced her resignation effective in December.                                          

Plummer said the people of Illinois are the real losers.

“I think, given a true opportunity, she would have done a phenomenal job for the people,” he said.  

In her resignation letter, Pope charged “this last legislative session demonstrated true reform is not a priority.”

Plummer said it’s all part of the plan.

“Gov. Pritzker and the Senate and House Democrats work overtime to ensure true and substantial ethics reform will never pass as long as they control the process."

Even before Pope decided to walk away and after longtime House Speaker Mike Madigan was forced out, Plummer openly wondered how serious Democrats are when it comes to reform, especially given how he thinks they handled the still-unfolding map redistricting process.

“The Democrat majority has made repeated promises to the people of this state that their redistricting process would be open, transparent and fair,” he said in a video posted to YouTube. “Their late Friday night release of unworkable PDF maps on their website is just another one of their broken promises. No one would believe that the level of transparency would have decreased from what we experienced under Speaker Madigan.”

Plummer argues it's clear Democrats care about staying in power more than anything else.