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Sen. Castro wants legislative hurdle removed from ethics investigations

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Illinois

* Press release…

Needless bureaucratic hurdles are slowing ethics investigations and need to be removed, state Senator Cristina Castro said in filing legislation to streamline the process.

“We have a skilled investigator on the job. We need to empower her to do that job and deliver results quickly,” said Castro, an Elgin Democrat and the newest member of the Legislative Ethics Commission.

Here’s the problem with the current system.

When an ethics complaint is filed regarding lawmakers or legislative employees, the Legislative Inspector General cannot review the complaint until it first goes to the Ethics Commission and is approved for an investigation. This bureaucratic step can delay the start of investigation by weeks if not months.

Castro’s proposal simply removes the hurdle and gives the inspector general the authority to begin reviewing cases as they are filed.

“This unnecessary step is only delaying the inspector general from doing her job,” said Castro. “Getting rid of it will speed up the process and deliver faster results, which is what the public wants and expects. It is important that we make it as easy as possible for the inspector General to get to work as soon as possible on these time-sensitive issues.”

Not a bad idea. After all, the governor can’t nix an ethics investigation before it can proceed.

posted by Rich Miller
Monday, Dec 11, 17 @ 9:36 am

Comments

Senator Castro is a fantastic legislator and even more fantastic person, but this is Springfield and there is no place for a good idea like this.

Comment by Iggy Monday, Dec 11, 17 @ 9:49 am
That idea is simple and make great sense…so it probably will go no where… but thank you Sen. Castro.

Comment by Uncle Ernie Monday, Dec 11, 17 @ 9:52 am
That’s great to hear. Now if only she could stop blocking constituents from the official state senator Twitter account.

Comment by ste_with_a_v_en Monday, Dec 11, 17 @ 10:06 am
The executive inspectors general are all full-time employees prohibited from any outside employment. The General Assembly has never hired a full-time legislative inspector general, probably because they’ve never experienced many complaints. Look at the reports submitted throughout the years compared to the number of complaints submitted to the other inspectors general.

http://ilga.gov/commission/lig/QuarterlyReports.asp

Comment by thoughts Monday, Dec 11, 17 @ 11:34 am
Thats a lot of power to give to to an IG ? The job
Could be politicized and used to besmirch the reputations of members (not that that would ever occur in Illini land.

Comment by NorthsideNoMore Monday, Dec 11, 17 @ 5:21 pm