Latest / Illinois Valley - Shaw Local / Republicans call for more transparency, accountability after ‘disgraceful week’ for House Democrats

Transcript

Republicans call for more transparency, accountability after ‘disgraceful week’ for House Democrats · Illinois Valley - Shaw Local

• 0:05
  Speaker 1: Republicans call for more transparency accountability after disgraceful week for
• 0:09
  Speaker 1: House Democrats. Written by Ben Zelensky, this article is being
• 0:16
  Speaker 1: read by an automated voice brought to you by Everlett Spring.
• 0:21
  Speaker 1: Illinois Republican lawmakers are calling on their Democratic counterparts to
• 0:25
  Speaker 1: support ethics reforms establishing more accountability for lawmakers accused of wrongdoing.
• 0:31
  Speaker 1: Two Illinois House Democrats were publicly accused in the last
• 0:34
  Speaker 1: week of inappropriate or criminal behavior. Former Representative Harry Benton
• 0:38
  Speaker 1: D Plainfield resigned on July third, after House Speaker Emmanuel
• 0:42
  Speaker 1: Chris Welch D Hillside said an internal ethics report revealed
• 0:46
  Speaker 1: inappropriate behavior. Then, on Wednesday, Representative Carol Ammonds Diurbana was
• 0:52
  Speaker 1: indicted on ten federal corruption charges for allegedly misusing campaign
• 0:56
  Speaker 1: and state funds. This has been another disgraceful week for
• 1:00
  Speaker 1: the Illinois government, driven by conduct by members on the
• 1:03
  Speaker 1: Democratic side of the aisle and the failure of leadership
• 1:06
  Speaker 1: to demand real accountability. House Republican leader Tony mccambie AR
• 1:11
  Speaker 1: Savannah said at a news conference on Thursday. Welch temporarily
• 1:16
  Speaker 1: booted Ammons from the House Democrats caucus, but did not
• 1:20
  Speaker 1: call on her to resign while her criminal proceedings play out,
• 1:23
  Speaker 1: a process that could take months or even years. Last Thursday,
• 1:28
  Speaker 1: Welch called on Benton to resign after he said he
• 1:31
  Speaker 1: reviewed a private report from the Legislative Inspector General finding
• 1:34
  Speaker 1: Benton engaged in unspecified inappropriate behavior. He told reporters in
• 1:39
  Speaker 1: Springfield on Wednesday that he hasn't called for Ammans to
• 1:43
  Speaker 1: resign because she is innocent until proven guilty. He had
• 1:46
  Speaker 1: also booted Benton from caucus while the investigation, which still
• 1:50
  Speaker 1: hasn't been made public, played out. But mccambie said Welch
• 1:54
  Speaker 1: isn't doing enough to hold alleged bad lawmakers accountable or
• 1:59
  Speaker 1: discourage other law mags akers from engaging in similar behavior.
• 2:03
  Speaker 1: The people of Illinois deserve answers, mccambie said, They deserve accountability,
• 2:07
  Speaker 1: and they deserve a legislature that is willing to police
• 2:10
  Speaker 1: itself before another scandal forces its hands. Investigating Ammons. Ammons,
• 2:16
  Speaker 1: a state representative since twenty fifteen, was indicted on ten
• 2:19
  Speaker 1: felony charges, Wednesday, including wire fraud, lying to an FBI agent,
• 2:23
  Speaker 1: and obstructing justice. Her husband, Champagne County Clerk Aaron Ammons
• 2:28
  Speaker 1: was also charged with obstructing justice. Ammon's daughter, Titiana Ammons,
• 2:33
  Speaker 1: was not charged in the scheme, despite prostcalcutors alleging she
• 2:36
  Speaker 1: was a beneficiary of her mom's illegal actions. Titiana Ammans
• 2:40
  Speaker 1: is facing federal fraud charges in a separate case. However,
• 2:44
  Speaker 1: Prosecutors alleged that starting in twenty seventeen, Ammons and her
• 2:48
  Speaker 1: daughter received financial benefits as in excess of one hundred
• 2:52
  Speaker 1: thousand dollars via a scheme including illegal payments from the
• 2:56
  Speaker 1: Friends of Carol Amman's campaign account and from payments made
• 3:00
  Speaker 1: to Titiana Ammons from local nonprofits that received state grant
• 3:04
  Speaker 1: funds arranged by the lawmaker. McCombie called for a special
• 3:08
  Speaker 1: investigated committee into Ammons, which could ultimately lead to her
• 3:12
  Speaker 1: expulsion from the House. The House rules allow for three
• 3:15
  Speaker 1: members of any party to initiate such an investigative process.
• 3:20
  Speaker 1: While the House GOP could initiate that process without Democrats,
• 3:23
  Speaker 1: they hadn't done so as of Thursday. Criminal proceedings determine
• 3:28
  Speaker 1: guilt or innocence, McCombie said, the House determines whether its
• 3:32
  Speaker 1: members are worthy of serving the people of Illinois. We
• 3:35
  Speaker 1: may not be able to legislate bad behavior, but we
• 3:38
  Speaker 1: can absolutely demand transparency, accountability, and meaningful penalty enhancements or
• 3:43
  Speaker 1: consequences for those who betray the public's trust. Such a
• 3:47
  Speaker 1: committee was set up in twenty nineteen to investigate ex
• 3:50
  Speaker 1: Democratic Representative Luis Arroyo and in twenty twenty for longtime
• 3:55
  Speaker 1: Democratic House Speaker Mike Madigan. Arroyo resigned before his committee met,
• 4:00
  Speaker 1: but Madigan's committee, chaired by Welch, declined to punish the
• 4:03
  Speaker 1: former speaker after he was indirectly named in a court
• 4:06
  Speaker 1: document accusing Commute of bribery. Both men later went to prison.
• 4:10
  Speaker 1: Later went to prison. She is entitled to due process,
• 4:13
  Speaker 1: and I believe the court system is the proper place
• 4:16
  Speaker 1: for that to happen, Welch said, However, we have processes
• 4:19
  Speaker 1: in place that if they are invoked, we will use
• 4:22
  Speaker 1: those processes. That is the right of our members. Ethics reform.
• 4:26
  Speaker 1: While Republicans have often used news of corruption, indictments or
• 4:29
  Speaker 1: convictions to call for ethics reform, they said the focus
• 4:33
  Speaker 1: in light of Amman's charges needs to be on preventing
• 4:36
  Speaker 1: alleged lawbreakers from serving in the General Assembly. They also
• 4:40
  Speaker 1: said her case should inspire lawmakers to reform the budget process.
• 4:45
  Speaker 1: Ammons allegedly directed state grants to nonprofits that would pay
• 4:49
  Speaker 1: her daughter. One of those organizations, the Urbana Champaign Independent
• 4:53
  Speaker 1: Media Center, received a seven hundred and fifty thousand dollars
• 4:56
  Speaker 1: reappropriation from the Fund for Illinois Future in the current
• 4:59
  Speaker 1: years by The fund is often used to finance initiatives
• 5:03
  Speaker 1: in democratic districts. If Democrats are going to include millions
• 5:07
  Speaker 1: of taxpayer dollars and member directed funding for local projects,
• 5:11
  Speaker 1: they must also demand transparency, accountability, and rigorous oversight of
• 5:16
  Speaker 1: every organization receiving those grants. Representative Patrick Windhorst are Metropolis
• 5:22
  Speaker 1: said many organizations that have appeared before House committees seeking
• 5:26
  Speaker 1: taxpayer funding have been unable or unwilling to provide clear
• 5:30
  Speaker 1: accounting of how public dollars were spent. Welch told reporters
• 5:34
  Speaker 1: layers of review already exist. There are processes in place.
• 5:39
  Speaker 1: We got to make sure organizations go through several steps,
• 5:43
  Speaker 1: at least ten steps. Welch said. Members have complained since
• 5:47
  Speaker 1: I've been speaker how slow things are, and it's because
• 5:50
  Speaker 1: we're taking them through all those steps that have been
• 5:52
  Speaker 1: put in place to try to ensure things are done
• 5:54
  Speaker 1: in a proper way. Republicans also said lawmakers need to
• 5:59
  Speaker 1: hold more hearings exploring new ethics reforms. Having such a
• 6:03
  Speaker 1: super majority makes them feel like they are untouchable, and
• 6:06
  Speaker 1: this stuff is going to continue to happen until the
• 6:08
  Speaker 1: people of the state of Illinois realize that these people
• 6:11
  Speaker 1: think they're untouchable. Representative C. D. Davidsmeyer, R. Murrayville, said,
• 6:18
  Speaker 1: Senate Republican leader John Curran Our downers Grove said in
• 6:22
  Speaker 1: a statement, lawmakers should give local pro sectors wire tapping
• 6:25
  Speaker 1: authority to investigate public corruption. The people of Illinois do
• 6:30
  Speaker 1: not deserve this continued embarrassment of having to wait for
• 6:33
  Speaker 1: the FEDS to come in to investigate public corruption by
• 6:36
  Speaker 1: their own state elected officials because the Democratic majority continues
• 6:41
  Speaker 1: to sideline the Illinois Attorney General and local prosecutors from
• 6:44
  Speaker 1: policing public corruption. Kurran said. Some measures Republicans have proposed
• 6:50
  Speaker 1: include making lig reports such as the one into Benton
• 6:54
  Speaker 1: public sixty days after it's completed, banning lawmakers from using
• 6:58
  Speaker 1: campaign funds for criminal defense, and suspending pension benefits for
• 7:02
  Speaker 1: public officials charged with felonies connected to their public responsibilities.
• 7:07
  Speaker 1: Hannah Masl and Brendan Moore contributed. Capital News Illinois is
• 7:12
  Speaker 1: a nonprofit, nonpartisan news service that distributes state government coverage
• 7:17
  Speaker 1: to hundreds of news outlets statewide. It is funded primarily
• 7:21
  Speaker 1: by the Illinois Press Foundation and the Robert R. McCormick Foundation.