CHICAGO (WBBM NEWSRADIO) — Despite the scandals that forced former Speaker of the House Michael Madigan out of office, the leader of Republican lawmakers in the Illinois House said there has yet to be significant ethics reform.
As Madigan, some former lawmakers and others face corruption charges, state Rep. Tony McCombie said the General Assembly should pass stricter regulations to discourage future occurrences.
“We have to be transparent,” the House Minority Leader said. “We need to be open and we need to be clear. Without doing anything, again, ethically, and the ethics reform that was done was not enough, to the point where the legislative inspector general resigned from her position, he tells you that it was spelled wrong.”
McCombie said the inspector general needs subpoena power, for example, adding that new lobbying rules are called for.
“It’s crazy to think that I could be the mayor of my hometown, I could be a state representative and I could be a paid lobbyist for my hometown at the same time,” he said.
McCombie was actually the mayor of Savanna, Ill., but left that job before becoming a lawmaker.
On budget issues, McCombie said Democrats listened to some of Republicans’ budget ideas early on, but when the big decisions were made, GOP lawmakers were largely ignored. There are only 40 House Republicans out of the 118-member House, so Democrats never need their votes.
McCombie said the answer to his problems is obvious.
“We need more asses in the seats, that’s what we need,” he said.
The Republican leader, however, said some Republican voters are disheartened to feel their vote won’t make a difference.
“How do people get excited?” she said “I have a lot of Republican friends in Chicago and they say, ‘Let’s not vote because it doesn’t matter here. Our voice is overwhelmed’”.
Another part of the problem, he said, is that some people have negative preconceptions about what Republicans stand for and who they are.
Tensions between traditional conservatives, moderate Republicans and die-hard supporters of Donald Trump have long bedeviled the party.
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Featured Image Photo Credit: Justin L. Fowler/The State Journal-Register
