Criticizing the ethics reform measures recently passed by the Illinois General Assembly, the legislative inspector general called her job a “paper tiger” lacking the independence required to hold lawmakers accountable.

Illinois’ Legislative Inspector General currently is subjected to political influence or even silencing by members of the General Assembly.

Illinois’ legislative inspector general investigates complaints against state lawmakers, but a commission of their peers can – and did – bury those findings, the former inspector said. A new bill would change that.

A bureaucratic barrier that stifles investigations into lawmakers’ ethical violations would be nixed under a newly proposed law.