Columnist David Greising is right to call on Springfield to release the legislative inspector general’s investigative report that apparently found “outrageous” misconduct by former state Rep. Harry Benton (“Rep. Harry Benton resigned after misconduct allegations. The state owes us a report,” July 17).
But the public shouldn’t have to beg for basic transparency about its representatives. In Illinois, lawmakers can bury the inspector general’s reports about their colleagues’ misconduct, and they have done so over and over.
The law must change to make releasing these reports mandatory.
Current rules require the Legislative Ethics Commission to release investigative reports only in narrow circumstances involving employees, such as legislative staff.
But when the report is about a lawmaker, publication is merely optional. It is left to the discretion of the eight-member ethics commission, which is composed of legislators appointed by House and Senate leaders and split evenly between the parties. A party-line vote can hide any report about a sitting or former legislator, no matter how serious the findings.
This isn’t a bug of the law — it’s a feature. Lawmakers designed it that way to protect themselves and each other. And no matter how many scandals roil Springfield, they refuse to change it.
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Legislative inspectors general have been sounding the alarm about this for years. Tom Homer, the office’s first occupant, warned in 2014 that these rules mean “reports finding legislator misconduct are unlikely to ever see the light of day,” breeding “public cynicism toward elected officials.” He added that he was “unaware of any other inspector general who is required to operate under such secretive guidelines.” Homer’s successor, Julie Porter, called the arrangement “the fox … guarding the henhouse” after the commission “squashed” two of her investigations, including one involving “serious wrongdoing” by a sitting legislator. Carol Pope resigned in 2021 rather than keep running what she called a “paper tiger” of an office, after lawmakers again failed to fix the problem.
The solution isn’t complicated. When the legislative inspector general finds substantial evidence of wrongdoing by a public official, that finding should be published automatically, with redactions to protect victims’ privacy. Legislation to do exactly that has been introduced repeatedly in Springfield.
Every time a case like Benton’s makes headlines, we ask an ethics commission made up of the accused’s own colleagues to please do the right thing. We shouldn’t have to ask.
We should change the law so the public always gets the answers it deserves.
— Alisa Kaplan, executive director, Reform for Illinois
Welch maintains status quo
Illinois House Speaker Emanuel “Chris” Welch’s claim of swift reaction to allegations against now-former Rep. Harry Benton is laughable. It would take two election cycles for his swift reaction, and I would hope that by then, the voters would have spoken for Welch’s swift retirement.
Springfield’s usual corruption will never change with leaders like Welch.
— Richard Prince, Chicago
Medicaid recipients unprepared
With less than six months to go before major Medicaid eligibility changes take effect, more than half of enrollees do not know that they could lose their healthcare coverage next year.
According to new research from The Health Management Academy, 55% of surveyed Medicaid enrollees said they did not know that they will be subject to new work requirements starting in January, and 85% were unaware that they will soon have to reapply for Medicaid every six months, instead of once a year.
These results underscore a significant challenge facing states, healthcare providers and community organizations: Millions of Medicaid enrollees will soon be expected to comply with new requirements that many do not know are coming. These new requirements place extraordinary burdens on states and enrollees without sufficient federal guidance, implementation support or preparation time.
The impact will be huge. An estimated 400,000 people in Illinois are projected to lose their Medicaid coverage due to these changes. Many will lose coverage not because they no longer qualify, but because they are unprepared for the new administrative process. No one should lose their health coverage because they didn’t understand the new rules or couldn’t navigate a maze of complex paperwork.
We need all hands on deck to help residents understand these rules, complete required paperwork and avoid preventable coverage losses. To support these efforts, a coalition convened by Cook County Health launched GetMedicaidFacts.com, an information hub and communications tool kit with materials in 14 languages designed to help enrollees and advocates navigate new eligibility requirements.
If you work directly with Medicaid recipients or personally know someone enrolled in the program, I encourage you to make sure they are aware of these changes.
As anyone who has faced a serious illness knows, sickness doesn’t wait until you have time, money or health insurance. When people delay care because they become uninsured, they are more likely to seek treatment in emergency departments after conditions have worsened. This significantly impacts their well-being and also increases wait times and overall healthcare costs, straining the system that serves all of us.
Sicker communities affect everyone.
We still have time to prevent this outcome but only if we all work together to prioritize informing people about these changes like the public health imperative that it is. Readers can join us in this work by visiting GetMedicaidFacts.com.
— Dr. Erik Mikaitis, CEO, Cook County Health
CPS budget plan responsible
Kudos to Chicago Public Schools CEO Macquline King and the rest of the CPS budget team for doing the heavy lifting of addressing the district’s $732.5 million budget deficit. Difficult decisions needed to be made, and CPS is acting responsibly. The Chicago Teachers Union has cried foul, but there are simply insufficient funds to cover CPS’ anticipated costs.
Much of this would be unnecessary if CPS were able to close schools with insufficient enrollment, but that appears to be a bridge too far for CPS and its chief antagonist, CTU. So we are left with layoffs.
A Tribune article (“District looks to close massive deficit with job reductions, furlough days,” July 16) points out that long-term debt, aging buildings and rising operating costs are the real culprits here. Without addressing those items, staffing cuts are inevitable.
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I’m also pleased that CPS is not relying on excessive tax increment financing surpluses to bridge the gap, given those funds, as we’ve seen with the development of The 78 project, are necessary for actual development and should not be used to pay operating expenses. If CPS could right-size schools due to decreasing enrollment, each school could be fully staffed the way CTU desires, but in a world where resources are limited and closing schools appears to be off the table, CPS did what it needed to do.
I urge the Board of Education to vote in favor the budget.
— Dean Gerber, Chicago
NFL should chip in for stadium
Soldier Field is a fine stadium. The seating capacity is 61,500. If the NFL thinks this is not Super Bowl worthy, it should help pay for a new stadium and not the taxpayers.
It’s not broken, so no need to fix it.
— Debbie Somchay, Westmont
Note to readers
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