West Cook News

Despite objections from Republican lawmakers, the Illinois State Senate recently approved a new Legislative Inspector General.

The Senate nominated Judge Michael McCuskey to fill the position of Legislative Inspector General, which has been vacant since Carol Pope's resignation. The LIG is supposed to be approved by a bipartisan committee. However, Illinois Democrats bypassed that process.

"The position of Legislative Inspector General is too important to stay vacant for as long as it has. An impasse is not an option, so we are taking decisive action to move forward with an excellent candidate," Senate President Don Harmon (D-Oak Park) said in a statement. "Judge McCuskey has an impeccable record and is widely known as an extremely ethical person. He has a history of working in a bipartisan manner and a distinguished record as a judge. He was nominated for a federal judgeship by Bill Clinton and confirmed by a Republican-controlled U.S Senate and later served 15 years on the Illinois Supreme Court's Commission on Professionalism. I am confident he will serve the State of Illinois well." 

Pope, the most recent LIG, announced her resignation in July. Her resignation followed the passage of an ethics reform bill that she said would limit her ability do her job. "This last legislative session demonstrated true ethics reform is not a priority," she said at the time.

Pope originally stated her resignation would be effective Dec. 16, but she remained in the position to Jan. 6 to give the search committee more time to find a replacement. However, no replacement was found by that time.

Four lawyers were appointed to a search committee to recommend a new LIG. Rep. Jim Durkin (R-Burr Ridge) criticized Democrats in November for rejecting both of the committee’s recommendations.  

"A reasonable person would think that members of the General Assembly would want a strong Legislative Inspector General to regain public trust and send a clear signal that the old ways are done, that it really is a new day in Illinois," Durkin wrote in an opinion piece for Crain's Chicago Business. "Unfortunately, the Illinois General Assembly continues to do business the same way it has always done, with no oversight, no checks and balances, and no true ethics reform."

The Office of the Legislative Inspector General in Illinois was established in 2003 to investigate allegations of corruption among members of the General Assembly.