General Assembly appoints new lawmaker watchdog as GOP decries search
process
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[February 18, 2022]
By JERRY NOWICKI
Capitol News Illinois
jnowicki@capitolnewsillinois.com
SPRINGFIELD – Democrats in the Illinois
General Assembly this week fast-tracked the approval of their party’s
appointee to the watchdog position tasked with investigating lawmaker
misconduct.
A harshly partisan debate and near one-party approval for the
legislative inspector general nominee, former federal Judge Michael
McCuskey, came despite members of both parties offering high praise for
the candidate. The appointment passed on partisan lines in the Senate
and with support of a handful of Republicans in the House.
The post had been vacant since last month, which led Democrats to push
McCuskey’s nomination to the floor this week without approval from a
search committee defined in law, according to Senate President Don
Harmon’s Wednesday nomination of McCuskey in the Senate.
At least one case was pending before the vacant office, making the
appointment more urgent, according to Harmon and House Speaker Emanuel
“Chris” Welch, D-Hillside.
“We've learned from past experience that the vacancy in that office
should be filled very quickly,” Harmon said on the Senate floor. “The
Legislative Ethics Commission has been deadlocked for four months now.”
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Republicans speaking against the appointment didn’t specifically cite
concerns about McCuskey’s background or character, but rather took issue
with the Democratic effort to bypass certain steps in the appointment
process.
Each party accused the other of political motivations.
McCuskey was approved as a federal judge unanimously by the
Republican-held U.S. Senate upon his nomination by President Bill
Clinton in 1998, retiring in 2014.
House Minority Leader Jim Durkin, R-Western Springs, joined several
other lawmakers in stating he believed McCuskey to be a decent man with
great integrity who can “call balls and strikes appropriately.”
Durkin voted present on the appointment, as he and fellow Republicans
charged the Democrats with bypassing a non-lawmaker review panel and
forwarding the nomination to the floor without approval from the
Legislative Ethics Commission.
The four-member search committee, made up of lawmaker-appointed former
judges or prosecutors, makes recommendations to the eight-member
Legislative Ethics Commission, which is made up evenly of Democrats and
Republicans and chaired by Republican Sen. Jil Tracy, of Quincy.
“If we're just going to say that the statutes, which are the law of the
land, are advisory, we don't have to follow them, I think it's a poor
reflection upon this process. It's not a reflection on Judge McCuskey,”
Durkin said.
Rep. Maurice West, D-Rockford, who sponsored the appointment in the
House, said the Legislative Ethics Commission has been at a deadlock for
91 days.
The initial candidates put forth by each party failed to gain the
necessary support from the Commission, as did a third candidate, so
Democrats brought forth McCuskey after the search panel concluded its
business.
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![](../images/021822PIX/news_z85.jpg)
House Speaker Emanuel "Chris" Welch closes debate on
the nomination of Michael McCuskey as the next legislative inspector
general on the House floor Thursday. (Credit: Blueroomstream.com)
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The conversation in each chamber became contentious at times, with the
GOP saying they would support McCuskey on an “acting” basis while giving
a citizen oversight panel time to fully vet the candidate.
The Republican members of the Ethics Commission even said McCuskey was
open to serving in the acting role until completing the process in its
entirety. That would have been a palatable solution, according to
Commission member Rep. Jeff Keicher, R-Sycamore, who said it would have
worked as a bridge to the end of the term of the outgoing LIG.
But Democrats didn’t want to approve McCuskey on an interim basis.
“If he's qualified enough to be the acting LIG, he's qualified enough to
be the permanent LIG,” West responded.
Rep. Avery Bourne, R-Morrisonville, who is a candidate for lt. governor,
said lawmakers approved the current search process to make the LIG
hiring process “beyond reproach.” But she said bypassing the search
committee sends a message that the majority gets to choose its own
watchdog.
“If we want a truly independent watchdog and to restore the confidence
of the people of Illinois and the people in our own body that we can
police ourselves, we've got to be better than this,” she said. “This
isn't just about process. This is about whether or not you actually want
to have a legislative watchdog that's respected and that can be a
watchdog over the General Assembly. And with what you're doing today,
it's clear that you don't.”
Welch said Republicans were “playing politics” in trying to delay the
vote. “Let's get down to the important work that we're all here to do.
We've got eight weeks ahead of us a lot of work to do in that eight
weeks. Let's stop the games and get some important work done today.
Let's all appoint someone that everyone here today – everyone, everyone
that I've heard, speak here today – has said is exceptionally
qualified.”
In Senate debate Wednesday, Sen. Dave Koehler, a Peoria Democrat, said
he could vouch for McCuskey’s character and experience. Koehler said
he’s known McCuskey for years and considers him a close friend.
“I will say this as a friend,” he said. “I don't intend to do this, but
if I were to ever go astray and do things that are ethically not
consistent with this body, Judge McCuskey would not hesitate but to hold
me accountable for that.”
![](http://archives.lincolndailynews.com/2022/Feb/18/images/ads/current/ldn_sda_062409.png)
The inspector general position has been in the news as of late after
Carol Pope announced her planned resignation from it last year, calling
the post a “paper tiger.” She extended her planned resignation date
several times to give lawmakers an opportunity to fill the position, but
left office last month in the absence of legislative action on a
replacement.
The appointment advanced 37-18 in the Senate Wednesday with only
Democratic support. It passed the House 77-16 with 19 “present” votes.
Capitol News Illinois is a nonprofit, nonpartisan news service covering
state government and distributed to more than 400 newspapers statewide.
It is funded primarily by the Illinois Press Foundation and the Robert
R. McCormick Foundation. |