Prairie State Wire

Republican state House candidate Peter Breen thinks there may be more than what meets the eye now accounting for Democrats in Springfield pushing for an ethics reform package.

“It strikes me as just election year show not really intended to go anywhere or actually become law,” Breen told the Prairie State Wire. “The Democrats have had a supermajority in the legislature for years and years, meaning they’ve had the full opportunity and ability to pass ethics reform anytime they wanted. Every Republican has been clamoring for it and at any moment they could have brought an ethics bill to the floor and it would have passed unanimously.”

With House Speaker Mike Madigan (D-Chicago) now embroiled in a still developing federal corruption probe involving utility giant ComEd and a pay-for-play scheme, some Democrat lawmakers are pushing an array of reform measures they tout as ways to change the culture in Springfield. Topping the list of proposals are measures that would ban legislators from becoming lobbyists, require greater financial disclosures, establish a censure process, make the legislative inspector general more independent, and institute term limits.

Running against incumbent Illinois state Rep. Terra Costa-Howard (D-Glen Ellyn) in the 48th District, Breen argues that the rot in Springfield clearly runs far deeper than just one man rule.

“It’s not just Madigan stopping ethics reform legislature,” he said. “Democrats also refuse to push any proposals that would help clean things up. Right now is about nothing more than just posturing. The most significant ethics reform we’ve had in years was in 1994 when Republicans had full control of the legislature. Since that time, Democrats have refused to advance much of anything that has to do with reform."