Prairie State Wire

Legislative Inspector General (LIG) Carol Pope has announced plans to step down in a letter that indicts the whole system.

“This last legislative session demonstrated true ethics reform is not a priority,” Pope noted in her resignation letter. “The LIG has no real power to effect change or shine a light on ethics violations; the position is essentially a paper tiger.”

A former prosecutor and judge, Pope was ushered into power in Springfield in 2019 amid much fanfare, marking the first permanent inspector to be appointed in the post in four years.  Her installation came at a time when Springfield was being rocked by the contents of an open letter circulated through the Illinois Capitol demanding an end to a culture of disrespectful treatment of women.

Pope, who plans to leave on Dec. 15, added she finds an ethics reform bill that now sits on Gov. J.B. Pritzker’s desk to be counterproductive “by requiring the filing of a complaint before the LIG can undertake an investigation.”

Senate Bill 539 would also prohibit the LIG from launching an investigation based solely on public allegations raised in the news media.

To have any chance of being effective, Pope said the position needs more independence, with the LIG having the power to issue subpoenas and reports without first being required to get the approval of the bipartisan Legislative Ethics Commission.

While Pope told The State Journal-Register she holds out hope the General Assembly will be able to find a quality replacement for her, she adds “but I think it will be difficult to find someone of high integrity to take the job because of the limitations in the statute.”

Since appearing before a Joint Commission to offer testimony on Ethics Reform nearly 18-months ago, Pope said all of the issues she raised about her office “are still unimproved today” except for a provision in HB 539 that would let the inspector general initiate an investigation.