* Wednesday press release…
Governor JB Pritzker signed ethics reform legislation today and appointed four members to the newly formed Joint Commission on Ethics and Lobbying Reform.
“The people of Illinois deserve a state government they can trust, and that means we need to put stronger ethical safeguards in place, prioritize transparency and demand more accountability from public servants,” said Governor JB Pritzker. “While we took important steps in November to tighten ethics requirements and improve transparency, it’s critical to take additional action to end the unconscionable self-enrichment and corruption that has been uncovered. I expect this commission to deliberate swiftly and report their recommendations with the greatest possible urgency.”
Senate Bill 1639 strengthens the detail of information required on statements of economic interest, increases lobbyist disclosure requirements – including whether they are elected officials anywhere in Illinois, whether they are registered lobbyists in any unit of local government and whether they subcontract – and requires the Secretary of State’s office to create a publicly accessible and searchable database combining registered lobbyist disclosures, contributions by registered lobbyists and statements of economic interest.
Created by HJR 93, the joint commission will review and make recommendations to change state ethics laws, examine best practices from other state and local governments, and seek expert and public input on improving ethics in Illinois state government.
Comprised of 16 members from Illinois’ executive and legislative branches, members of the joint commission are prohibited from lobbying Illinois state government during their service on the commission or at any time during the last five years.
* Emphasis added because of this appointment…
Steven A. Andersson serves as a Commissioner of the Illinois Human Rights Commission. Andersson has been a licensed attorney for more almost three decades. He is a partner at the law firms of Mickey, Wilson, Weiler, Renzi and Andersson, P.C. and the Elder Law Center, P.C. He is admitted to practice law at all Illinois courts, the United States Supreme Court, the United States Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit, and United States District Court for the Northern District of Illinois. Andersson was also the state representative for Illinois’ 65th legislative district from 2015 to 2019 where he served as Republican floor leader in 2018. During the 99th General Assembly, Andersson was a leader of the Republican coalition that joined with the Democratic caucus to end the longest state budget impasse in U.S. history. He has also been a strident defender of the rights of all people, including being the chief co-sponsor for the ERA, a two-time sponsor of the Equal Pay Act and chief co-sponsor of the LGBTQ curriculum bill. Prior to joining the Illinois House of Representatives, Andersson served his community as a trustee and treasurer on the Geneva Library District Board for approximately 5 years, including serving 2 years as treasurer. Andersson is a past president of the Kane County Bar Association. He is also a member of the Kane County Bar Foundation; Illinois Bar Association; American Bar Association; National Academy of Elder Law Attorneys; and served on the governing board of the Aurora Family Counseling Service and Big Brothers Big Sisters.
Um, he’s a good guy for sure, but Andersson was a registered lobbyist until June 28th of this year.
*** UPDATE *** From the Pritzker administration…
Steve Andersson is a dedicated public servant and the administration appreciates his willingness to serve. However, given the requirements of the resolution, we will be submitting a different appointee.
That was fast.
*** UPDATE 2 *** Press release…
Christine Radogno will serve on the Joint Commission on Ethics and Lobbying Reform. Radogno is the former Senate Minority Leader, the first female leader of a political party in the Illinois Legislature. She served as a Republican member of the Illinois Senate, representing a Legislative District in Cook, DuPage, and Will Counties from 1997 to 2017. She also serves as a co-chair of the Governor’s Pension Consolidation Feasibility Task Force. Prior to serving in the state senate, Radogno served for eight years as a Village Trustee in LaGrange. Radogno received a bachelor’s degree and a master’s in social work from Loyola University in Chicago. She was employed in the field of mental health before entering politics.
- Ok - Thursday, Dec 5, 19 @ 9:46 am:
The double As threw them off in the lobbyist information search…
- Kam's Floor - Thursday, Dec 5, 19 @ 9:49 am:
Read the bill (or resolution) - Charlie Wheeler
- Just Me - Thursday, Dec 5, 19 @ 9:55 am:
Raymond Nice would make for a good appointment.
- Back to the Future - Thursday, Dec 5, 19 @ 9:56 am:
The gentleman has had a distinguished career in both his professional and public service endeavors.
This fellow and Illinois citizens would be a lot better off if the Gov. would focus more on the “governance” stuff and less on PR stunts.
- Altgelds Ghost - Thursday, Dec 5, 19 @ 9:57 am:
Billionaires don’t have to follow the rules or even bother to know them. In 2019, money defines political power.
This mistake is just another example of the Philly brain trust leading through a press release.
Not much different than the Hutchinson appointment.
Let’s see if Governor Big Boy will even admit the mistake.
It’s even less likely that the Republicans or the AG will hold him to live by the law he signed.
Big Boy doesn’t have to follow the rules because he’s handing out all the cheese.
- Just Observing - Thursday, Dec 5, 19 @ 10:01 am:
Oh, imagine the horrors if a registered lobbyist had something constructive to say about lobbying/politics.
- Proud Sucker - Thursday, Dec 5, 19 @ 10:04 am:
Steve really, really likes the HRC gig. I don’t think this will be too big of an issue. The Gov’s peeps who didn’t read the entire law however, more of a big issue.
- Oswego Willy - Thursday, Dec 5, 19 @ 10:05 am:
(Sigh)
Dear Governor’s Crew.
You have a Pot Czar that now the “Food and Beverage Director” and you decide to tout rules… then don’t even contemplate the Andersson (which I like the appointment, btw, but I digress) reality of fitting into what you’re hoping to promote.
Reading the bio, or understanding where Andersson is/was… ya can’t tell me no one caught this.
The Pot Czar appointment going up in smoke due to the pesky constitution, lots of folks apparently missed that, but this… are ya just doing spell check or reading for context and content, are you appointing within the mission you’re hoping to promote?
Give it a think. Let’s hope these two oopsies are the end.
We’ll see.
- Oswego Willy - Thursday, Dec 5, 19 @ 10:06 am:
Oh.
Oh.
To the update,
Hope that they apologized to Andersson.
- Gladhander - Thursday, Dec 5, 19 @ 10:07 am:
Steve Andersson is a wonderful person and a dedicated public servant. He would have been a great fit. Alas, rules are rules.
- Demoralized - Thursday, Dec 5, 19 @ 10:08 am:
Sigh. Somebody should get the ruler to the knuckles on this thing. This created unnecessary embarrassment for the Governor. Amateur hour.
- Ok - Thursday, Dec 5, 19 @ 10:10 am:
These days, it seems “Oops” could be a recurring segment, much like “It’s just a bill”.
- ILPundit - Thursday, Dec 5, 19 @ 10:14 am:
Unlike the previous administration, the Pritzker team seems to have an honest desire to do good things and solve problems.
But unfortunately, they suffer from a similar problem as the Rauner team in that they have far too many people driving the decision making who don’t pay attention to or heed actual statutes and administrative rules. Some agencies are worse than others, but embarrassing foul-ups like this are going to be a continuing problem for them until they get some folks into the center of decision making who actually take the time to learn the legalities of how state government is supposed to work.
- DuPage Saint - Thursday, Dec 5, 19 @ 10:20 am:
I cannot believe with a resume like that he was a Republican rep. No wonder he quit. He was my representative and a good one.
- Oswego Willy - Thursday, Dec 5, 19 @ 10:22 am:
=== I cannot believe with a resume like that he was a Republican rep.===
When Daniels had the Gavel, quite a few members of that majority caucus mirrored a Steve Andersson.
You shrink a party, you lose good legislators in your caucus… or you drive them out for an agenda and cash, but I digress…
- Wow - Thursday, Dec 5, 19 @ 10:26 am:
Cudos to “just observing” post
- Ducky LaMoore - Thursday, Dec 5, 19 @ 10:26 am:
It is truly bizarre living in a world where a government administration actually acknowledges a mistake and fixes it. Strange times…:)
- DuPage Saint - Thursday, Dec 5, 19 @ 10:28 am:
OW the list of former Republicans or moderate Republicans driven out of what I thought of as my party is legions
No one I worked for could make it in party today. Frankly I thought being a country club Republican wasn’t a bad thing. Then it became RINO now it just is traitor. Pathetic
- Paul S - Thursday, Dec 5, 19 @ 10:36 am:
Who did the Gov appoint besides Andersson? That wasn’t in the press release or did I miss something
- Norseman - Thursday, Dec 5, 19 @ 10:42 am:
Yes, Andersson is a good guy and rules are rules.
Yes, Governor’s staff needs to have a ruler rap on their knuckles for a sloppy error. Especially in light of the ethically awful pay supplement key staff are getting.
However, I find it refreshing in this Trumpian/GOP era of fake realities that a leader admits mistakes.
- Donnie Elgin - Thursday, Dec 5, 19 @ 10:45 am:
JB would likely never allow such incompetence in his private business matters. Pay more attention to the details. Two messed up appointments in one week is a problem.
- Bigtwich - Thursday, Dec 5, 19 @ 10:52 am:
Paul S
https://www2.illinois.gov/Pages/news-item.aspx?ReleaseID=20899
- Oswego Willy - Thursday, Dec 5, 19 @ 11:05 am:
=== I find it refreshing in this Trumpian/GOP era of fake realities that a leader admits mistakes.===
Concur. Part of governing and politics is, and it should be again, admitting mistakes, then correcting those same mistakes too. On that part alone, good on them.
- Klaus von Bülow - Thursday, Dec 5, 19 @ 11:12 am:
Isn’t a HRC commissioner a full time job paying 120K a year? Mr. Andersson has a lot on his plate.
Our Cheif Executive might want to consider the consequences of not having a competent administrative staff. I’m continuously shocked but not surprised by his lack of leadership in administering his governmental responsibility.
How many more shackles and life threatening blunders will continue from Illinois’ Executive branch.
- Oswego Willy - Thursday, Dec 5, 19 @ 11:13 am:
===… country club Republican … traitor.===
The devolution of the GOP, especially in Illinois, in a nutshell.
Raunerism bought up the brand… the rest is personified in Mr. Andersson
- Commissar Gritty - Thursday, Dec 5, 19 @ 11:26 am:
Andersson is a kind and ethically motivated man. I get the rules, but they’re definitely losing out by skipping him over. Maybe try again after the conflict of interest window lapses?
- Norseman - Thursday, Dec 5, 19 @ 11:54 am:
I apologize to Rich for using this thread to pontificate on a different topic, but this thread brought to my mind the continuing ethical concern about JB’s pay supplement for senior staff. This is the only forum available to me for my rant.
Obviously, this action has not generated enough concern by folks to force JB to rescind this supplement. Ok, I get that banging one’s head against the wall is painful. However, during this time where we consider ethical changes in laws, I would like to throw out an idea to address the supplement.
Bottom line, the supplement creates a possible conflict between the employee’s allegiance to the State of Illinois and the politician paying them a substantial sum of money. As a state official it is imperative that he/she take action for the benefit of the people of the State of Illinois pursuant to the IL Constitution and laws. I’m not naïve enough to believe that a governor’s staff is free from a personal allegiance to the officeholder, but there is a legal burden which should hang over their heads to do the right thing when required. As we’ve seen at the Federal level there have been a few (sadly too few) who have put aside their political beliefs in favor of doing the right thing. The financial supplement creates an additional disincentive to do the right thing.
So if we can’t eliminate it, let’s legalize it in a manner that provides some guidelines to allow affected employees to avoid financial loss for doing the right thing. Therefore, I suggest:
1) Require the elected official setting up the supplement to deposit a sum of money into a state fund to cover four years of the supplement from the start. An allowance can be made for increases in the supplement during the term so long as an additional amount is deposited in the fund to cover the remainder of the term.
2) The employees will be paid their supplement for the special state fund, not the officeholder’s political account.
3) The employees can only be fired pursuant to the civil service code and is subjected to an appeal process. Yes, this is a drastic change for a political executive, but I believe that is the burden you must accept if a supplement is paid. An incompetent can still be addressed, but a capable worker will have some financial protection from an officeholder’s ire for having done the right thing.
End Rant
- Lt Guv - Thursday, Dec 5, 19 @ 11:57 am:
That’s unfortunate. He would have been a good appointee.
- Oswego Willy - Thursday, Dec 5, 19 @ 4:27 pm:
- Norseman -, as you know, all day with ya. All day.
To Radogno,
The irony of this appointment, in ethics, solely to the politics… I mean, wow.
You have Plummer, who seems to be playing himself in this ethics “call out” against the man who replaced Radogno, who, lost favor with Rauner for working with Cullerton… and now Brady, while staving off Plummer hears whispers… you guessed it… being to close to Democrats.
You can’t write this, make this up… you can’t even game it out (you can decide if it’s a pun) like this.
Oh… Andersson? Yeah. He was “too close to Dems too” but it was … ethics… I mean, seriously… an ethics clause keeping him out, and now he is replaced.
Craxy, crazy times.
- cudawodashuda - Thursday, Dec 5, 19 @ 7:08 pm:
How much does the Job pay. Can Radogno draw a State Pension and accept pay for this appointment?
- Anyone Remember - Thursday, Dec 5, 19 @ 7:52 pm:
Oswego Willy -
“Food and Beverage Director” ??? Almost as good a reference as “Skyhook, in reverse.”
https://capitolfax.com/2016/12/13/gop-targets-jb-pritzker-over-blagojevich-tapes/
- Oswego Willy - Thursday, Dec 5, 19 @ 8:20 pm:
(Tips cap to - Anyone Remember -)
Wonder if Plummer will amend his own bill to allow the Dodgers ownership to fly?
It’s not like his Dad (or anyone’s immediate family, period) is gonna give up a stake in a professional sports franchise… for … whatever.