Rep. McLaughlin Joins FOX 32 to Discuss Ethics Reform

House Republicans are demanding immediate reforms to strengthen the office's authority. Joining us now to discuss the resignation is Republican State Representative Martin McLaughlin. Representative, thank you so much for your time. Happy to be here this evening. Thanks, Anita. This has been ongoing and unfolding over several months. Michael McCuskey now sending this resignation letter dated August 31st, but set for his final day, September 30th. Is that quick enough? Do you think it's too long? Well, he's had a busy summer, unfortunately, along with Representative Benton. There's been two other allegations. We had a federal corrupts in charge of Representative Ammons out of Champaign, and also he's been investigating a potential drug and employee problem with Representative Brielle. So I think that is what the statute calls for, minimally, is to announce and then 30 days later. So I think that fits with what the expectation is. Okay. And before this controversy, of course, many people may have known those representatives who you listed off there, but maybe not the Legislative Inspector General. What do Republicans want to see reformed? What are some specific ethics laws and statutory changes you all would like to see? Well, we'd like to see some teeth in what the authority to investigate that the Legislative Inspector General should have and has not had. The prior LIG actually said the job is that of a paper tiger. And ethics reform in Springfield could be done overnight as the Democrats have a supermajority, but it's much like the cicadas outside my window. They make a lot of noise and they bury it for 17 years and bring it out again when necessary. So really, we could do this with a click of a finger in veto session. So I am actually hoping that my Democrat colleagues will finally decide to do something. I mean, the governor passed a bill related to gerrymandering in under 48 hours. How about we actually believe in ethics reform and do the same thing on behalf of the constituents in Illinois for ethics reform? Speaker Emmanuel Chris Welch, this is another full aspect of this entire controversy here. His handling of the Benton complaints, especially how a prior report sat unaddressed for three years. So what accountability are you demanding from the House majority leadership? Well, let's be honest. The reason that Mike Madigan is no longer there had a lot to do with the same type of handling of sexual misconduct allegations. Speaker Welch came in and said it would be a new day. And unfortunately, it looks like it's the same old day. So we had 39 years of Madigan and it looks like we've had five years of Welch. And it's same as it ever was. A lot of talking heads, and we're not actually getting any ethics reform. So again, there's a super majority in the House, the Senate, and the governor's office. If they actually wanted to put some teeth in the LIG's position, they could do it in under 48 hours, and it's beyond time. And what would that process look like? I'm pretty tight on time here. Right, understood. But what would that process look like? Well, the LIG doesn't have investigative authority. He can't compel testimony. And those are just a few of the things that we would want as not just Republicans, but as state representatives that wanna represent our constituents on all sides of the aisle. So let's have the LIG have the ability to compel testimony under oath so that it can be used in court. So there is some teeth behind the job. I think it's the least we should expect from Springfield. If you give your overall outlook on this past summer and all the things that happened that are still making their way through the legal system, what's maybe a stamp on the summer that you would put? We need balance. We don't have balance in the state legislature or in the Senate. And I'm in the minority as a Republican. But let's be frank, if you have more balance, you come with better decisions, better oversight, more transparency. So voting matters. So think about it before you go into the voting booth and decide, am I gonna continue down the status quo of lax oversight, or do I want people who will hold politicians accountable? And I think that's a really important consideration when you're looking to vote for your next state rep or state senator. Representative, thank you so much for coming back on the show. We appreciate it as always. Happy to be here. Thank you, Anita.