THE FOLLOWING RELEASE IS FROM STATE REP BRANDON SCHWEIZER’S OFFICE
DANVILLE, IL… State Representative Brandun Schweizer (R-Danville) released the following statement after former Illinois House Speaker Michael Madigan was sentenced 7 ½ years in federal prison after he was found guilty of bribery, conspiracy, wire fraud, and other charges in mid-February.
“While I did not serve under Madigan, I hope this conviction and sentencing will serve as a wake-up call to the Democrat Supermajority that Illinois needs ethics reforms to end public corruption,” said Rep. Schweizer. “Illinois has a culture of corruption that must be addressed immediately. The people of Illinois deserve a government they can trust.”
Schweizer says after the recently ended spring Legislative Session, he isn’t holding out much hope for reform.
“This is the second year in a row that Democrats suspended their own rules to pass $1 billion in tax increases and one-time gimmicks to fund pork projects and pay hikes for themselves without following the appropriate process,” Schweizer said. “We must do better, and House Republicans are committed to putting forth legislation that will reform our state.”
“This sentencing of both Illinois’ and the United States’ longest reigning political leader should be an eye-opener for all of Illinois that ethics reform is NOT negotiable,” concluded Schweizer.
House Republicans introduced a legislative package that would strengthen Illinois’ ethics laws and stamp out public corruption this spring. Schweizer says Democrats refused to call a single ethics reform bill in this General Assembly, and continued to ignore the very real problem of public corruption in Illinois.
Some key legislative pieces filed include putting teeth into the Legislative Inspector General’s office to issue subpoenas to make investigations more meaningful, closing the loophole in the current revolving door law that allows a legislator to be a member of the General Assembly one day and a lobbyist the next, and banning public officials from using campaign funds for their own legal defense. These measures, along with all other ethics reform bills, remain stuck in the Rules Committee.
For more information, please contact Rep. Schweizer at (217) 477-0104 or visit RepSchweizer.com.
