SPRINGFIELD — Illinois Republican lawmakers are calling on their Democratic counterparts to support ethics reforms establishing more accountability for lawmakers accused of wrongdoing.
Two Illinois House Democrats were publicly accused in the last week of inappropriate or criminal behavior. Former Rep. Harry Benton, D-Plainfield, resigned on July 3 after House Speaker Emanuel “Chris” Welch, D-Hillside, said an internal ethics report revealed inappropriate behavior. Then on Wednesday, Rep. Carol Ammons, D-Urbana, was indicted on 10 federal corruption charges for allegedly misusing campaign and state funds.
“This has been another disgraceful week for the Illinois government, driven by conduct by members on the Democratic side of the aisle and the failure of leadership to demand real accountability,” House Republican Leader Tony McCombie, R-Savanna, said at a news conference on Thursday.
Welch “temporarily” booted Ammons from the House Democrats’ caucus but did not call on her to resign while her criminal proceedings play out — a process that could take months or even years. Last Thursday, Welch called on Benton to resign after he said he reviewed a private report from the legislative inspector general finding Benton engaged in unspecified inappropriate behavior.
Read more: Rep. Harry Benton resigns, withdraws name from ballot amid ethics investigation
He told reporters in Springfield on Wednesday that he hasn’t called for Ammons to resign because she is “innocent until proven guilty.” He had also booted Benton from caucus while the investigation — which still hasn’t been made public — played out.
But McCombie said Welch isn’t doing enough to hold alleged bad lawmakers accountable or discourage other lawmakers from engaging in similar behavior.
“The people of Illinois deserve answers,” McCombie said. “They deserve accountability, and they deserve a legislature that is willing to police itself before another scandal forces its hands.”
Investigating Ammons
Ammons, a state representative since 2015, was indicted on 10 felony charges Wednesday, including wire fraud, lying to an FBI agent and obstructing justice. Her husband, Champaign County Clerk Aaron Ammons, was also charged with obstructing justice. Ammons’ daughter, Titianna Ammons, was not charged in the scheme despite prosecutors alleging she was a beneficiary of her mom’s illegal actions. Titianna Ammons is facing federal fraud charges in a separate case, however.
Read more: State Rep. Carol Ammons indicted in scheme to receive kickbacks, misusing campaign funds
Prosecutors allege that starting in 2017, Ammons and her daughter “received financial benefits in excess of $100,000” via a scheme including illegal payments from the “Friends of Carol Ammons” campaign account and from payments made to Titianna Ammons from local nonprofits that received state grant funds arranged by the lawmaker.
McCombie called for a special investigative committee into Ammons, which could ultimately lead to her expulsion from the House. The House rules allow for three members of any party to initiate such an investigative process.
While the House GOP could initiate that process without Democrats, they hadn’t done so as of Thursday.
“Criminal proceedings determine guilt or innocence,” McCombie said. “The House determines whether its members are worthy of serving the people of Illinois. We may not be able to legislate bad behavior, but we can absolutely demand transparency, accountability, and meaningful penalty enhancements or consequences for those who betray the public's trust.”
Such a committee was set up in 2019 to investigate ex-Democratic Rep. Luis Arroyo and in 2020 for longtime Democratic House Speaker Mike Madigan. Arroyo resigned before his committee met, but Madigan’s committee, chaired by Welch, declined to punish the former speaker after he was indirectly named in a court document accusing ComEd of bribery. Both men later went to prison. later went to prison.
“She’s entitled to due process and I believe the court system is the proper place for that to happen,” Welch said. “However, we have processes in place that if they are invoked, we will use those processes. That is the right of our members.”
Ethics reform
While Republicans have often used news of corruption indictments or convictions to call for ethics reform, they said the focus in light of Ammons’ charges needs to be on preventing alleged lawbreakers from serving in the General Assembly.
They also said her case should inspire lawmakers to reform the budget process. Ammons allegedly directed state grants to nonprofits that would pay her daughter. One of those organizations, the Urbana-Champaign Independent Media Center, received a $750,000 reappropriation from the Fund for Illinois’ Future in the current year’s budget. The fund is often used to finance initiatives in Democratic districts.
“If Democrats are going to include millions of taxpayer dollars and member-directed funding for local projects, they must also demand transparency, accountability, and rigorous oversight of every organization receiving those grants,” Rep. Patrick Windhorst, R-Metropolis, said. “Many organizations that have appeared before House committees seeking taxpayer funding have been unable or unwilling to provide clear accounting of how public dollars were spent.”
Welch told reporters layers of review already exist.
“There are processes in place; we got to make sure organizations go through several steps — at least 10 steps,” Welch said. “Members have complained since I’ve been speaker how slow things are and it’s because we’re taking them through all those steps that have been put in place to try to ensure things are done in a proper way.”
Republicans also said lawmakers need to hold more hearings exploring new ethics reforms.
“Having such a super majority makes them feel like they are untouchable, and this stuff is going to continue to happen until the people of the state of Illinois realize that that these people think they're untouchable,” Rep. C.D. Davidsmeyer, R-Murrayville, said.
Senate Republican Leader John Curran, R-Downers Grove, said in a statement lawmakers should give local prosectors wiretapping authority to investigate public corruption.
“The people of Illinois do not deserve this continued embarrassment of having to wait for the feds to come in to investigate public corruption by their own state elected officials because the Democratic majority continues to sideline the Illinois Attorney General and local prosecutors from policing public corruption,” Curran said.
Some measures Republicans have proposed include making LIG reports, such as the one into Benton, public 60 days after it’s completed, banning lawmakers from using campaign funds for criminal defense and suspending pension benefits for public officials charged with felonies connected to their public responsibilities.
Hannah Meisel and Brenden Moore contributed.
Capitol News Illinois is a nonprofit, nonpartisan news service that distributes state government coverage to hundreds of news outlets statewide. It is funded primarily by the Illinois Press Foundation and the Robert R. McCormick Foundation.
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