Rock Island Today

Republican lawmakers are ready to see significant change in Springfield.

That is why many of them support the Reimagine Illinois campaign, an effort to focus on anti-corruption laws, fiscal responsibility, community safety and job growth. 

Reps. Patrick Windhorst (R-Metropolis) and Tony McCombie (R-Rock Falls) talked about the importance of the campaign and what they hope it will accomplish in an IL House GOP video earlier this month. 

"For too long, Illinois as a state has been stuck in a rut," Windhorst said. "It's easy for our citizens to think, 'this is the way it has to be because this is the way it always has been.' Reimagine Illinois is telling us that we can have a different state if we change the direction of the state."

Of utmost priority for the legislators is the issue of ethics. The Illinois General Assembly has been plagued by one corruption scandal after another, and the GOP is ready to invest significant time and energy into legislation to fix that. 

McCombie said that corruption is expensive to the state and taxpayers economically and socially. 

"The more time people are in power and they utilize their authority, it causes corruption with our stakeholders that are trying to fight for the people of Illinois," McCombie said.

"It’s pretty crazy to think about here we are, elected to represent our districts and others across the state and we take advantage of our corporations, our stakeholders, our most vulnerable, and it’s just not right," McCombie said. 

The University of Illinois Chicago Department of Political Science released its Anti-Corruption Report that suggests Illinois might be higher ranked in ethics shortcomings than previously thought.

The report found that the Prairie State leads the nation in federal public corruption convictions by judicial district, according to data from 1976 through 2019.

During that time, Illinois had a total of 1,770 federal public corruption convictions.          

“It is no secret that Illinois state government has a long-standing corruption problem, with recent indictments and  convictions of everyone from governors and legislators to local officials and political power brokers,” state Rep. Tom Bennett (R-Watseka) said.