The federal indictment of state Rep. Carol Ammons is the latest reminder that Illinois’ ethics laws remain too weak to prevent conflicts of interest before they become criminal investigations.
Every corruption scandal in Illinois seems to end the same way: promises of ethics reform followed by another round of excuses for why meaningful changes can’t happen. The state’s ethics laws still rely far too heavily on the honor system. Lawmakers must act to pass comprehensive ethics reforms, enforce conflict-of-interest rules, limit undue influence, empower independent oversight and reform legislative processes.
Federal prosecutors allege Ammons used her position to direct state grant money to nonprofits that employed her daughter, then benefited financially through an illegal kickback scheme. Prosecutors allege that state officials warned Ammons that using these state grants to pay her daughter presented an impermissible conflict of interest, yet the practice continued. She has been charged with wire fraud, making false statements to a federal investigator and obstruction of justice.
Illinois lawmakers don’t need to wait for a verdict to recognize a much larger problem: how little Illinois law requires of lawmaker ethics, especially when conflicts of interest arise.
Illinois has recorded more than 2,100 public corruption convictions since 1983 and is consistently ranked one of the the most corrupt states. Original analysis from the Illinois Policy Institute estimates corruption cost taxpayers $556 million annually from 2000 to 2018.
Illinois lawmakers are not required to disclose a conflict before voting on legislation that could benefit themselves or an immediate family member. Nor are they generally required to recuse themselves. Instead, state law says a legislator “should consider” eliminating the conflict or abstaining from official action.
“Should consider.” Those two words capture everything that’s wrong with Illinois’ approach to ethics.
The law assumes public officials will voluntarily step aside when their private interests intersect with their public responsibilities. That’s a remarkable level of trust to place in politicians, particularly in a state with one of the longest histories of public corruption in the country.
Most states don’t operate that way. They require lawmakers to disclose conflicts, recuse themselves from votes involving those conflicts or both. Those requirements exist because rules should determine when a conflict exists, not the official involved.
Springfield continues to operate under ethics laws that leave too much to individual discretion while creating countless opportunities for conflicts to arise. Lawmakers regularly maintain outside employment with organizations that may have business before the General Assembly.
State Rep. Stephanie Kifowit recently accepted a leadership position with the Construction Industry Service Corp. while continuing to serve in the legislature through January. There is no indication she intends to violate the public’s trust, but ethics laws shouldn’t depend on assumptions about any individual lawmaker’s intentions.
Illinois should start by replacing the honor system with enforceable rules. Lawmakers should be required to disclose financial conflicts with legislation and recuse themselves from votes that could benefit themselves or their immediate family. Violations should carry real penalties.
Beyond that, lawmakers should end the revolving door by prohibiting legislators from lobbying while in office and requiring a two-year cooling-off period after leaving office before they can become lobbyists. The legislative inspector general should have independent subpoena authority and the ability to publish findings of wrongdoing. Finally, lawmakers should stop drawing their own districts and reform chamber rules that concentrate power in the House speaker and Senate president.
None of these reforms is new. Illinois has debated them for years. Yet after each new scandal, the conversation fades while the weaknesses remain.
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The Ammons case will be decided in court. Whether Illinois learns anything from it will be decided in Springfield.
Joe Tabor is the senior director of legal research for the Illinois Policy Institute.
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