SoS Giannoulias signs Executive Ethics Order
Tuesday, Jan 10, 2023 - Posted by Rich Miller
* Click here for the EO. Press release…
Keeping a promise he made during his campaign, new Illinois Secretary of State Alexi Giannoulias signed a wide-ranging Executive Ethics Order shortly after taking office.
“During my campaign, I pledged to issue, implement and enforce a comprehensive ethics package for the Secretary of State’s office upon taking office,” said Secretary Giannoulias. “As my first act, this Executive Ethics Order achieves this commitment from the very start of my administration and sets the bar to adhere to the highest ethical standards in state government.”
The order upgrades and improves transparency, codifies key procedures in the office’s internal policy manual, enhances protections afforded to victims of sexual harassment or threats of violence, and simplifies the public’s ability to submit complaints to the Inspector General’s office.
There are six key provisions that comprise the Executive Ethics Order, including:
• Performing a comprehensive review of the use of state vehicles to ensure they are only used for state business-related functions.
• Requiring all Secretary of State inspectors under the authority of the Inspector General to receive training from the national Association of Inspectors General to ensure that inspectors serve with the utmost professionalism and have the most up-to-date training.
• Establishing a dedicated Secretary of State Inspector General email account and prominently featuring it on the main Secretary of State webpage – ilsos.gov – to boost visibility and make it easier for the public and employees to submit complaints and report abuse.
• Strengthening the Secretary of State’s policy on sexual harassment to remove burdens from anyone mistreated or harassed and to ensure all victims are treated fairly and all perpetrators are held to account.
• Prohibiting threatening behavior, words or actual violence by mandating this prohibition in the Personnel Manual to ensure all threats of violence or actual violence in the workplace will not be tolerated and will be treated with the utmost seriousness.
• Prohibiting Secretary of State employees and contractual employees from contributing to the Secretary’s political fund by codifying this prohibition as official office policy.
Thoughts?
- jimbo26 - Tuesday, Jan 10, 23 @ 4:39 pm:
50 years ago, when I worked at the SOS, I had to give my supervisor a certain amount of $’s each pay. He then delivered the money to the county Republican party. Glad to see Alexi making sure the practice ends.
- Anyone Remember - Tuesday, Jan 10, 23 @ 4:41 pm:
The (ab)use of state vehicles needs to be addressed.
- James - Tuesday, Jan 10, 23 @ 4:41 pm:
The first step in Alexis run for US senate
- This - Tuesday, Jan 10, 23 @ 4:50 pm:
I think a very important ethics pledge that there should be total transparency on - no family member of his transition committee should end up with state jobs in the Office of the Secretary State.
Reporters should make sure to follow all hires to make sure his chairs, co chairs and members of that committee or their families do not end up with jobs.
- RNUG - Tuesday, Jan 10, 23 @ 5:42 pm:
Sounds good on paper.
But in my about 35 years of government service, I’ve seen a number of these without that much followup or implementation. The devil will be in the details; a lot of the ones I saw applied to the rank and file while excluding top management / politically connected management.
So I’m cynical about it; they’ll have to show me they mean it.
- Anon - Tuesday, Jan 10, 23 @ 5:57 pm:
How about making all non-management positions use Rutan procedures for hiring? There’s still a lot of political hires in that office
- JJJJJJJJJJ - Tuesday, Jan 10, 23 @ 6:45 pm:
I’m no expert, but how is that final bullet point legal?
- Friendly Bob Adams - Tuesday, Jan 10, 23 @ 7:08 pm:
I’m sure this will be at least as effective as all the other ethics requirements.
- Shytown - Tuesday, Jan 10, 23 @ 7:48 pm:
Looks like someone is trying to improve upon their shaky ethics cred ahead of when they run for another office someday.
- Anyone Remember - Wednesday, Jan 11, 23 @ 5:58 am:
===There’s still a lot of political hires in that office.===
In part, that’s due to SoS having a Merit Commission, not a Civil Service Commission.