Legislation would require statehouse lobbyists to report client compensation and give secretary of state power to boot bad actors.
Illinois Secretary of State Alexi Giannoulias arrives at the Mosque Foundation in Bridgeview on Oct. 16, 2023, for the funeral service for 6-year-old Wadea al-Fayoume. Illinois laws regulating lobbyists and their influence on state government have long been criticized as being too weak, especially for a state with a history of influence peddling and corruption.
Requiring state lobbyists to report how much they are compensated by clients would follow similar lobbying requirements at Chicago City Hall, a place not known for the highest ethical standards.Despite Giannoulias’ plans, the proposal’s legislative sponsor, Democratic state Rep. Maurice West of Rockford, last week would commit only to giving the issue a hearing before the House Ethics & Elections committee he chairs.
The speaker has met with West about all bills assigned to the Ethics & Elections Committee, but Welch “has not discussed specifics of this legislation,” Welch spokeswoman Jaclyn Driscoll told the Tribune in an email.Harmon’s office said the secretary of state has briefed him on the proposal. Nobody’s going to declare Giannoulias’ proposal a silver bullet to Illinois’ corruption problem. But the secretary of state, who had a tense relationship with Madigan when he headed the state Democratic Party and Giannoulias made a failedJust last week, as Illinois celebrated the birthday of President Abraham Lincoln, the federal courthouse produced the two latest examples of Springfield’s sleazy behavior.
ComEd, for example, employed an army of lobbyists as it successfully pushed through a series of lucrative proposals starting in 2011 that produced windfalls for the state-regulated utility at the height of Madigan’s nationwide record 36-year reign as speaker. Another main piece of the legislation calls for the secretary of state to revoke a lobbyist registration for up to a year if a person violates lobbyist and ethics laws or is denied a pension, such as for committing a crime in connection to a person’s state position. After a year, a person could seek eligibility to re-register as a lobbyist, according to a secretary of state aide.
Most of the current penalties for violations are relatively nominal, such as $50 for late filing fees and $100 for failing to register, but they could be levied 26 times for each of the reports due in a year.
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