Illinois House Floor Debate — February 17, 2022

"Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I do wish I had his hair but… today we'd like to exclude… excuse Mark Luft, Tom Morrison, Dan Brady, and Keith Sommer. Thank you."

"Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Point of personal privilege."

"Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I've got two points to actually make. My first one is, I think it's time we go back to in- person committee hearings. Here we are in one room as a full House Committee conducting business. I think it's time we move our committees back into rooms so we can allow more discussion, better discussion, and also more interactions with people. The second request I have is that the Secretary of State's offices open up to allow customers inside the facilities. This day and age, or this time of winter, we went through the summer, we went through the fall with people standing in line. And when I see my constituents in their elderly years or even the young people having to stand outside in 90 degree weather, snowy conditions, ice conditions, it's very upsetting when we have big Secretary of State's buildings that these people could be inside. So, to the Secretary of State, I ask that you open up the buildings. And to this chamber, I ask that we go back to in-person committee hearings. Thank you, Mr. Speaker."

"Present."

"Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Just for clarification purposes, can I… which Friess? We have two Friesses over here. Which Friess would the Representative like removed from the chamber? I just want that for clarification purposes. Thank you."

"Yeah, thank you, Mr. Speaker. And I guess that I'm glad that we finally circled around to this. I was beginning to think that the rules in the chamber didn't really matter or we can just apply them wherever we want, whenever we want. You know, we've gone through two years now of making it up as we go, enforcing rules as we go. Will the Sponsor yield? No, she wants to… she wants to kick us out of here, I think that she should yield for some questioning. Will you yield? Oh, come on. Come on. I'm a sitting State Representative and you want to kick me out of this Body but you won't confront me personally and you won't have a dialogue with me about this. That's pretty weak. Representative Collins…"

"…is that a cloth mask that you're wearing? Is that a cloth mask? You know… I mean, do you know… how many other people are wearing cloth masks in here? Clearly not me, because I'm not going to wear a mask that the CDC has already said is ineffective. I mean, what are we really doing here? We're kicking people out. It's a total lack of common sense. It's a total lack of critical thought. And the people of… the people of Illinois are done with it. They're tired of it. It's time that we set an example that sanity, sanity is going to make a return here in the State of Illinois and Springfield. We've lived under two years of tyrannical rule 10200071.docx 10  STATE OF ILLINOIS 102nd GENERAL ASSEMBLY HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES TRANSCRIPTION DEBATE 71st Legislative Day 2/17/2022 for one person. And now we want to kick people out of here because this Body, this Body that we're in right now, has not been tough enough to do their job for the last two years. We haven't been tough enough to stand up to a Governor. We haven't been tough enough to stand up to a bureaucracy that is completely out of control. And today, the person that wants to kick us out of here because we're unsafe is not tough enough to answer questions from me."

"Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I… I find that statement, wearing your mask when you're outside the chamber, highly hypocritical that it would apply only in this chamber and not at functions that are off campus or at different events that… I'm not going to name names or say anything like that. But, folks, I've seen a lot of you at different events and see you 10200071.docx 11  STATE OF ILLINOIS 102nd GENERAL ASSEMBLY HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES TRANSCRIPTION DEBATE 71st Legislative Day 2/17/2022 before on the House Floor not wearing your mask, and the second we're in Session the masks come on. And I stand here for the kids. Everybody that knows me, everybody knows what I stand for. What about the kids that are segregated in schools, being isolated, ostracized, and embarrassed because they decided to remove their masks? They've decided to follow the science. But for two years we've failed. We've failed. We're not sitting over here telling you to take off your masks. We're merely asking you to respect us, as we respect you. So, when you're making this vote, guys, think about when you leave this chamber and you're at these parties, these dinners, having a good time with everybody and you're not wearing a mask. Don't be hypocrites here today. Vote 'no'."

"I'm just going to be brief. This is in February of 2020. I didn’t plan on being called out and taken from here. I literally, yesterday, leaving the chamber was with, in the elevator, several of us Republicans and there was Dem staffer in there and out of courtesy said, would you like us to mask? I literally just walked over there and talked to a couple of your members and put my mask on because I was going to be within six feet of them. Mind your own business. Mitigate your own risk."

"Thank you. You know, it's been two long years. In May of 2020, despite us not having much information, we all voted and we voted to put masks on. Most of us, I know I did. And information's come out. And I understand people have concerns, and we're all concerned about this. But, you know, 10200071.docx 12  STATE OF ILLINOIS 102nd GENERAL ASSEMBLY HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES TRANSCRIPTION DEBATE 71st Legislative Day 2/17/2022 I asked all of you, all of you, that side of the aisle and on this side of the aisle… and on this side of the aisle most joined me, not everyone… to join me and let's do our job as a legislature. Let's hold hearings. Let's find out what the science really tell us because we all know there are about 39 or 40 other states fully operational without masks. Now I'm not quite certain, and maybe the science would tell me if the Governor would share his science with us that we've asked for repeatedly, how it is that a disease travels so much differently in Illinois that we need to wear masks. And yet, 40 other states, most of them surrounding, many surrounding us, don't have to do this. But it'd be nice to know. I don’t want to make any of you sick. I don't want to make any of your family members sick. I don’t want to put them in jeopardy. And if wearing a mask after two years and what three sessions of dealing with this were really the answer, I'd be the first to have it on. I'd double and triple up for you, but we all know that what we're wearing, the studies have told us aren’t doing a whole heck of a lot. This isn’t about getting the job done here in Springfield. If we were going to do that, we would've considered the Bill I had a long ago, had actual hearings, and moved this state forward. We're just doing this now because one party has control over the other party. Come on. Let's just work together, put this stuff aside, and do all this. You know, this isn’t pleasant. When we left here after Veto Session, ended up with a great sinus infection. I don’t know if I’m still fully recovered, an ear infection, didn’t hear. Got to go see an ENT to get a scar off my ear drum afterward so I could hear. And yet, we're 10200071.docx 13  STATE OF ILLINOIS 102nd GENERAL ASSEMBLY HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES TRANSCRIPTION DEBATE 71st Legislative Day 2/17/2022 going to insist everyone sit here and wear these for what purpose? To what end? JCAR just voted that the mandate we were going to impose on our kids again didn’t have to. Some of you voted for that. But yet, now we're going to vote to remove Members of the House that are completely on the other side of the aisle, solely because their wearing things that would be approved here and be okay if they were wearing them but the CDC has told us not to. Please, let's put politics aside and just do the work for the people. They've been waiting for us to do it for a long time. Vote 'no'."

"Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Can I ask a question of the Chair, please? Can we speak without our masks on at our desks here? What's the rule today?"

"We may take… thank you, Sir. Because if Tuesday I had spoken these words we would've had to have… I would've had to have our masks on. So, there is an obvious inconsistency in the way that the rules that you are so insistent upon enforcing are applied. You know they say virtue is the tribute that… or hypocrisy is the tribute that vice pays to virtue. And what that means is that those who would put on a virtuous error… we call it virtue signaling today in our society… they commit hypocrisy when they engage in a vice that they're trying to impose on the other as virtue. And I know, as my previous Legislators have said, we've seen you all outside in congregate settings without your masks on. I know that this is a rule here, and I do believe that the proper way to do 10200071.docx 14  STATE OF ILLINOIS 102nd GENERAL ASSEMBLY HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES TRANSCRIPTION DEBATE 71st Legislative Day 2/17/2022 this is to amend the rule. But what we've done is we've allowed a Governor to come into this Body, we've allowed a Governor to come into this Body and dictate to us how we do our business. This is not right. There is a separation of functions here. The Governor has no business influencing the rules that are taking place in here. We have the ability ourselves to change this rule. And you know something, when we offered up that Motion the other day in JCAR to suspend the rules, I think we lanced a huge boil in this state because I know that the folks over on that side of the aisle, regardless of what they're saying now, feel the same way we do. You're not fooling anybody. Hypocrisy is the tribute that vice pays to virtue. And you are living examples of that statement. Thank you, Mr. Chairman."

"Thank you, Mr. Speaker. We are following science today. Ladies and Gentlemen, we're following political science. Representative Collins, this is not about safety. Eight hundred people in City of Chicago has died of murder this last year. And again, you say nothing. You're worried about a cloth mask, absolutely you're worried about a cloth mask. But then you'll be in the break room, you'll be eating, and you'll be with lobbyist dinners, and you'll be outside these chambers is the height of hypocrisy. You say you're fighting for those without a voice, you're not fighting for anybody. Eight hundred people died in your city and you said nothing. But two years ago we rented a stadium and spent thousands of dollars. And then, as soon as we adjourned, all of you went out and you went to lobbyist dinners and you did fundraisers. 10200071.docx 15  STATE OF ILLINOIS 102nd GENERAL ASSEMBLY HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES TRANSCRIPTION DEBATE 71st Legislative Day 2/17/2022 Each and every one of you have done it without a mask. And again, you walk into these chambers as… you're virtue signaling. Why don’t we do a virtue signal, Representative Collins? Why don’t we save the people of Chicago? Why don’t we save the blood shed? The terrible policies that you put forward if you're truly concerned about the safety of the people in this State, why don’t we do that? But you don’t say anything. You wear a cloth mask and talk about safety, why don’t we protect the people in the State of Illinois? But again, you say nothing. Hypocrisy is no longer defined by Webster's Dictionary. Hypocrisy is known as the Democrat Party in the State of Illinois."

"Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Ladies and Gentlemen of the chamber, it's unfortunate that we're having this vote today. But I call upon my colleagues on both sides of the aisle, the time to end the mandates is now. Over a majority of our schools have gone optional. Our children finally have the option. I'm not advocating that we need to eliminate them, you certainly have that option. The CDC has announced that they are going to phase out their recommendations. All states in the Midwest have gotten rid of statewide mandates many years… or many months ago. We look at the statistics. And unfortunately, shut downs, lock downs, masks, mandates have had very little effect on the virus. Just to our north, our neighbors to the north have a lower per capita death rate due to COVID than the State of Illinois. Got rid of their mask mandate well over a year ago. The Governor has announced the magical date of the 28th. All of the sudden it will be okay 10200071.docx 16  STATE OF ILLINOIS 102nd GENERAL ASSEMBLY HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES TRANSCRIPTION DEBATE 71st Legislative Day 2/17/2022 indoors. It has got to end now. We rise to say enough. I know that many of you on the other side of the aisle agree with us. We don’t need the mandates anymore. I would call on those Members to please join with us, do not expel us from this chamber, and let's move forward and say enough is enough. Thank you."

"Thank you, Mr. Speaker. To the Motion. I find it pretty unfortunate that this is the second vote we're having to remove Members of the Body. And we haven’t taken one vote or held one hearing in two years on the Governor's mitigations. Not one single vote. You guys have chosen to abdicate your duty and provide oversight. Live with it."

"Thank you. I'm not sure how we got here. It's very interesting. There's a lot of emotion in this chamber and that's what we do. We represent our districts. We represent our members… I would ask you to give me attention, guys. Please. At least offer me that respect and that courtesy. Over there against the wall. So, a week and a half ago, the Speaker sent me a letter about how we need to be more civil and work more collaboratively together. And I responded, and I said, I'm glad to do that, but civility is a two-way street. So, when I hear the debates today it makes me think, what happened with that letter that was sent to me on behalf of the Speaker, the Democrat Leader of the House of Representatives? Now the action which we are about to undertake, which I think is a very, very serious sanction, it's within the rules. I understand it. The rules are the rules. We can have a discussion about that, but the previous speaker moving along outside of that debate into things that are not relevant to whether or a person should be removed or not does not help this caucus. It does not help me feel… and put me in a frame of mind that there is still a place for civility where we can actually have an honest discourse between both sides of the aisle. And clearly, based on what we have seen outside of this chamber, from the courts and also in our schools, I think it's a legitimate question to ask that why can't we at least have a full hearing in front of one of our committees about mitigation efforts? We've been 10200071.docx 19  STATE OF ILLINOIS 102nd GENERAL ASSEMBLY HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES TRANSCRIPTION DEBATE 71st Legislative Day 2/17/2022 asking for it for two years. We've asked for the Governor's science, his data. We haven’t received it. But we're here to make informed decisions about how we are to go about conducting the business of the day, which affects every one of our residence. So, as we move forward, I would like to say that civility is important for this. We have people watching us on a daily basis. And when people come back in here, sometimes I'm extremely embarrassed over what happens because people want to see their Government in action. And they see this picking back and forth, and I think it's wrong. So, I'm just going to ask, let's just keep the issues and this debate limited to the issues that we have. I don’t think it's right for the process. And we can be a better, as the Speaker, said we can be a better institution if we follow that path. So, let's just take down the temperature a little bit. Okay? And if the Motion is going to be pursued, let's… let's see how the vote goes, and we'll accept the consequences of it. But my final thought is, let's just take the temperatures down a little bit guys. And I think all of us realize that if we are going to go down this path of, you want to talk about masks, our job is… again, we want to hear, we want to hear the people speak on behalf or against an issue backed up with reliable science and evidence. It's not an unreasonable request. And what you seen over here is a growing frustration that is playing out all over the State of Illinois. It's not only in our districts, but it's in your districts as well. And respect the people you represent as well. But let's think about something that we all think collectively might be the right path for us to move forward. So, again, I appreciate this 10200071.docx 20  STATE OF ILLINOIS 102nd GENERAL ASSEMBLY HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES TRANSCRIPTION DEBATE 71st Legislative Day 2/17/2022 time. And as the Speaker asked me a week and half ago to move forward in a more civil, collaborative effort, that was an attempt. And I think that we can do that with respects of how this chamber operates. So, thank you. Let's take the temperature down. Let's get to the business of the day."

"No."

"Yes, I am present."

"I vote 'no'."

"Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The Republican and a few friends request an immediate caucus."

"One hour, please."

"LIS, we cannot hear anything."

"Present."

"Present."

"Present."

"Present."

"Present."

"Present."

"I am present." 10200071.docx 24  STATE OF ILLINOIS 102nd GENERAL ASSEMBLY HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES TRANSCRIPTION DEBATE 71st Legislative Day 2/17/2022

"Chesney is present."

"Chesney is present."

"Thank you. I'd like to start off and say that I know Mike McCuskey, and he's a decent man. He's a very good judge. And he's a person that can call balls and strikes appropriately. And he is a man of great integrity. And I've talked to him in great length over the last two days about this process. And I'm not going to divulge the conversations we had. But let me just ask you this, Representative. Just a little bit ago, when there was a Motion to expel some of our Members, it was brought up by the speaker, the person who made that Motion, how important it is for us to follow the rules of the House, correct? Do you remember that?"

"Do you believe that we should held… be held to that same standard when it comes to this process that is prescribed by statute?"

"Could you tell me when Mike McCuskey, when was his name submitted to the search committee and what was the… what recommendation, if anything, came from that search committee?"

"That's not an answer. When did he… did he… is it yes or no, was he vetted by the four-Member search committee?"

"That is prescribed by statute under the IG Act, which is the law. Which we just talked about, following the law, like following the House Rules."

"Okay. I understand that. I'm saying he's qualified. But I want to ask you something about… it's something extremely important. We have run through so many Inspector Generals and the last one ran out of the Capitol with her hair on fire based on what the Legislature did to deluding her office. Now I want to make sure that we do this thing, we should do it right. Now, under the statute, it states that the search committee shall stay in place until a individual has been confirmed by both chambers. The search committee shall be disbanded upon an appointment of the LIG. So, that committee still is in place. So, why can't you and your Members ask Mr. McCuskey to take a pause, go through the search committee, and then they'll revisit the issue after that, as the statute says that we should do. Not shall, not we should do. It says we shall do. It's not discretionary."

"How many cases are currently sitting on the desk at the LEC?" 10200071.docx 30  STATE OF ILLINOIS 102nd GENERAL ASSEMBLY HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES TRANSCRIPTION DEBATE 71st Legislative Day 2/17/2022

"There's nothing… you're not divulging any… one case. That’s my understanding too. So, it's not as if the…"

"All right. Now I have right here in front of me, this is the vacancy notice for this specific position. Now, Representative West, you're probably familiar with this, correct?"

"And it states that qualified candidates may submit resumes and references to the Illinois Legislative Ethics Commission by September 24, 2021. Has then been updated since then?"

"So, there's been no vacancy notice, anything current. And there's been no… I would say there's no following of the state statute which requires a individual who has submitted their name to be reviewed by the four-Member search committee, correct? This has nothing to do with Mr. McCuskey's integrity and the work that he does 'cause he is a fine man. But we are just… what I'm just saying right now is that ultimately you're dismissing the statute, which we are bound to follow when it comes to appointing an inspector general."

"But we're going to make it an advisory. It's not binding on us. That's what you're telling me?"

"So, Ladies and Gentlemen, what I'm hearing right now is that the Sponsor of the Resolution believes that the Illinois state statutes are not necessarily to be followed, that they are advisory in nature. And that is basically why we're here. Now you said that this has been 90 days, I know one of… and I'm not going to get into all the imaginations of what happened and I know that everybody's got their own explanation of why certain people weren't selected. But one person in particular, I quite frankly don’t know how he didn’t get past your blessings, and this is a former federal prosecutor who is named by the Clinton Administration to be the lead prosecutor against Timothy McVeigh. I thought that was an easy choice. But it came to my conclusion that I think that he was probably too good. So, could you respond to that particular individual's worthiness to serve in that capacity?"

"If you had listened to what I had said earlier, I have… I know Judge McCuskey. I know him well."

"And I think Judge McCuskey would do a great job. But Hartzler went through the selection committee. And Judge 10200071.docx 32  STATE OF ILLINOIS 102nd GENERAL ASSEMBLY HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES TRANSCRIPTION DEBATE 71st Legislative Day 2/17/2022 McCuskey hasn't. Can you explain why we haven’t asked McCuskey, Judge McCuskey to go through the selection committee as required by law?"

"So, why do we even have this section in here that states that a individual shall be vetted by the selection committee if you're not going to follow it? Why don’t we just… why don’t you add to the Resolution and strike that language?"

"The word shall says… it's not 'may', it's 'shall'. That the selection committee shall conduct the reviews."

"The Legislative Ethics Commission shall establish a four- Member search committee within the commission for the purposes of conducting a search for qualified candidates to serve as Legislative Inspector General. Shall establish. They have established it. It has been established. I have made my appointment. And they're there for a reason."

"But did you do it for this particular gentleman?"

"Representative West, was Judge McCuskey… was his name and was he submitted to the selection committee of the four appointees, myself, the Speaker, the President, and the Minority leader, in the Senate for vetting?"

"Thank you. Thank you."

"That's not the point. 'Cause you made that statement earlier. You're going to hear a lot about the process. And Mike McCuskey is a good man. He's a good judge. But when I hear Members of this Body take the extraordinary move to remove Members from their seats and their voting privileges because we have to follow a rule of the House, but now we're saying that we are just going to change direction and we're not going to quite follow the rules of the State of Illinois embodied within our statutes regarding the creation of the Legislative Inspector General. Is there any hypocrisy in that?"

"Well you're not following the statute. And politics is a two-way street. Both sides will probably… we can say that 10200071.docx 34  STATE OF ILLINOIS 102nd GENERAL ASSEMBLY HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES TRANSCRIPTION DEBATE 71st Legislative Day 2/17/2022 there both guilty of it. But if we're going to put the statute that is currently in place regarding the process for the recommendation of an Inspector General, for what I think is probably the most important decision that we're going to make this Session, and 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, but I would just hope that you realize that we are bound by the laws of Illinois and just because of the Majority Party you just can't do whatever you want. I'm voting 'present'."

"Thank you, Mr. Speaker. To the Resolution. I got to tell you, this is a tough one for me. Yesterday when we interviewed Judge McCuskey, it was the first I actually got to have a one-on-one conversation with him, but I've known about Judge McCuskey for a long time. You see, when he was on the federal bench he presided in Urbana. Urbana is one of the communities… I represent part of that community, and it is a community that I consider home. And so, Judge McCuskey was a very positive influence in our community for a long time. And while I didn’t know him personally, I know people that he knows. I'm friends with people who are friends with him. And about 15, 16 years ago, I actually served on a jury trial that he presided over. And I had nothing but the most favorable opinion of him through that experience. And so, the other day when his name surfaced I got excited. I thought, this is a 10200071.docx 35  STATE OF ILLINOIS 102nd GENERAL ASSEMBLY HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES TRANSCRIPTION DEBATE 71st Legislative Day 2/17/2022 guy that's going to sail through the process that’s prescribed in state statute and it's somebody that we'll probably all going to get behind and this is going to be good. I was somewhat shocked that he would actually be interested in this job after the frustrations Inspector General Pope have told us all about the limitations of the job. And then, also the process that the other very qualified candidates, two candidates that were unanimously approved by the search committee, the way they were treated in this process, I was shocked that somebody else would want to come forward. But I thought this is… this is a great deal we can come to a compromise. We can do something that will make the citizens of this state feel good about how we were about to work together and come to a compromise. And then, what happened? We do what we always do when it's beneficial politically to one side. We threw the process out the window. And in the process we damaged the integrity of this position. We had an opportunity that we wasted. What message does it send to the public when, we as a Legislature, are not willing to follow the laws that we write? What does is it say about how serious we are about ethics when we won't follow the process? It's sad. And we're going to take this honorable man who is willing to serve in this critically important capacity and we are going to put him in this position under a cloud of delegitimacy. And we're going to do it with less than unanimous support. We're better than that. We can do better than that. We can do the process better. We can do this House better. We can do the position better. We can do this honorable man better. I’m going to vote 'present'. I encourage 10200071.docx 36  STATE OF ILLINOIS 102nd GENERAL ASSEMBLY HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES TRANSCRIPTION DEBATE 71st Legislative Day 2/17/2022 all of you to vote 'present' so we can go back, we can get this right, and we can do right by this honorable man, and we can give his position the authority that it needs. And we can send a message to the people of the State of Illinois that we're serious about ethics and we're serious about cleaning up this State Government. Thank you."

"Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Will the Sponsor yield?"

"All right. Representative West, under 5 ILCS 430/25- 10(b-5), with regard to the Legislative Inspector General, it says, 'A vacancy occurring other than at the end of a term shall be filled in the same manner as an appointment only for the balance of the term of the Legislative Inspector General whose office is vacant.' And that's what this position is right now, right?"

"We need to fill it in the same manner as an appointment originally for a term, right?"

"Right. And we also have in the statute a requirement that there will, in fact, be a search committee who will recommend up to three candidates, right?"

"And one of the candidates that was recommended by the search committee could not gain Republican votes, right?"

"One of the candidates recommended by the search committee did not get Republican votes from the… by the Legislative Ethics Commission. True?"

"Right. And one of the… but one of the candidates that did come out of the search committee received two Republican votes, right?"

"I'm sorry. One received?"

"Right. And the other… and there were Republican votes behind the other candidate, correct?"

"Right. So, it was Democrats who refused to put votes behind the second candidate, correct?"

"Correct. And did not receive majority votes because no Democrat was willing to vote for him, right?"

"Why do you want to keep dancing around it?"

"It's not a question of being political because the whole point is, is that the reason why you have to get a 10200071.docx 38  STATE OF ILLINOIS 102nd GENERAL ASSEMBLY HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES TRANSCRIPTION DEBATE 71st Legislative Day 2/17/2022 majority of two Democrats and two Republicans on the commission is to guarantee that there will be a bipartisan candidate coming out of the commission, correct?"

"Okay. So, when you didn't get bipartisan support for a candidate… and the reason why there wasn’t bipartisan support, it's not because Republicans didn’t put votes up, it's because you didn’t put votes up. Instead of calling it a failed search and starting over, you decided to pull another name out of the hat who didn’t go through the process at all, right?"

"Really?"

"Did that person go through the process of…"

"But the third candidate never went through the actual process, right?"

"The third candidate actually put a resume in before the September deadline for filing applications?"

"That's my point. When we…"

"And did that… but that third person wasn’t the person who's nominated in your Resolution, right?" 10200071.docx 39  STATE OF ILLINOIS 102nd GENERAL ASSEMBLY HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES TRANSCRIPTION DEBATE 71st Legislative Day 2/17/2022

"Okay. So, you had three individuals and Democrats could not put votes behind any of those three individuals, correct?"

"But we do put behind one, right?"

"Sure. But you understand that that’s an illusory Motion…"

"…because to say let's send both to the floor, knowing full well that one of the… that the whole point of the search commission is supposed to produce a bipartisan candidate, you knew you were manipulating the process because what would happen is your Democratic candidate would get votes based on the majority on the floor and the Republican… and the candidate that actually had Republican votes would not get support on the floor, right?"

"It's not a question of are they a Republican or Democratic candidates, who had actual votes behind them?" 10200071.docx 40  STATE OF ILLINOIS 102nd GENERAL ASSEMBLY HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES TRANSCRIPTION DEBATE 71st Legislative Day 2/17/2022

"Right. And the whole point is, when you have an impasse, then the whole point is you have to start the process again. You know…"

"To the Bill. If a public company or a public body had followed the process that we're about the follow now, that would be considered to be a violation of due process. If one our school boards had done this, if one our agencies had done this, where there was supposed to be bipartisan or at least a majority of four and you only had two and two, the correct procedural process is to call it a failed search, and you start again. And the reason why you start again is to ensure that everyone has a fair chance for being considered for a job. Now one of the things that the Sponsor has said is that we would be out a Legislative Inspector General. I just want to remind the Body that there actually is a provision in law what to do when the Office of the Inspector General is vacant for a certain period of time and the Legislative Ethics Commission has not appointed any acting Legislative Inspector General. All complaints made to the Legislative Inspector General or the Legislative Ethics Commission then shall be directed to the Inspector General for the Auditor General, and so on and so forth. So, it's not as though there would be 10200071.docx 41  STATE OF ILLINOIS 102nd GENERAL ASSEMBLY HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES TRANSCRIPTION DEBATE 71st Legislative Day 2/17/2022 a way… it's not that the Legislative Ethics process would come to a halt, all that would happen is that we would have more time to properly go through the process and things could continue to be handled. So, here again, what we really have… you know, we have procedures in place. And we talk about due process… precisely because when you adhere to the process, when it's drawn to be fair to both sides of the equation or both sides of the aisle, and then all of the sudden you decide well might makes right, and we're going to jettison the rules that were agreed upon as fair, and we're going to do new rules simply because we've got a larger number of seats in this chamber, that in and of itself is an abuse of process. Because what you're saying is, it's okay to change the rules as long as I have the power. And that is not a fair or proper procedure. Thank you."

"Thank you. Representative West, how you doing this morning? So, a couple questions for you. I'm the newest member of the LEC. So, I just want to make sure we go over a couple of things that will be in the FOIA record from our emergency meeting yesterday. First, we did have an emergency meeting yesterday, right?"

"Okay. And during that meeting do you recall the candidate we spoke to saying anything on their preference regarding an acting versus a permanent appointment to this roll?"

"And what was the tenor and topic that was discussed?" 10200071.docx 42  STATE OF ILLINOIS 102nd GENERAL ASSEMBLY HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES TRANSCRIPTION DEBATE 71st Legislative Day 2/17/2022

"And so, his preference was to be appointed an Acting LIG and then do what after that?"

"So, after he expressed a preference to be appointed Acting LIG, what was his preference for the process to happen after that?"

"So, the process that he suggested after that regarding the search committee, reconstituting, and doing additional interviews."

"What was… would you agree with me that he suggested that we appoint him as Acting LIG, reconstitute a search committee, and conduct an additional search committee sharing names back with the LEC for suggestions?"

"Excellent. Okay. And from your knowledge or from staff's knowledge that’s there with you, what is the functional difference between an interim and an appointed LIG?"

"The process we are going through today as opposed to had we chosen to go through an acting designation?" 10200071.docx 43  STATE OF ILLINOIS 102nd GENERAL ASSEMBLY HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES TRANSCRIPTION DEBATE 71st Legislative Day 2/17/2022

"So, the permanent LIG position, when does their term for this member expire?"

"Okay. And that is the exact same date that the expiration of the interim title would expire as well, correct? Unless otherwise appointed someone in his stead."

"Okay. So, the date for expiration of the acting or the appointed LIG would expire in June of '23 unless, under the acting provision, we appointed somebody permanently in that role?"

"And that permanent role would also expire in June of '23, correct?"

"So, yesterday do you recall us, as a committee, discussing a Motion to appoint Judge McCuskey as an interim LIG?"

"And could you give a recap on what that looked like after the Motion was called?" West: Impasse."

"Impasse. And so, we had an opportunity yesterday in the afternoon to already have him in the role functioning as LIG. Instead we had our Senate peers take this process and run with it. Is that accurate?" 10200071.docx 44  STATE OF ILLINOIS 102nd GENERAL ASSEMBLY HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES TRANSCRIPTION DEBATE 71st Legislative Day 2/17/2022

"Okay. So, yesterday, however, we had an opportunity as an LEC committee to appoint him without needing to go through this road show that the Senate started yesterday. Is that fair to say?"

"And I just want to be clear, we had the opportunity to already have somebody in this role, the exact same person we are talking about today, functioning in the exact same capacity and his tenor expiring at the exact same time but we choose to go through this process that apparently is not broken. To the Resolution. When I joined the LEC and replaced Representative Bourne, I came up to speed by reading materials and reviewing what had happened regarding this search because it's the most important thing that the LEC is currently engaged in. While I did that, I reviewed a number of things. And I also want to share with you from May 31, 2018, a quote from Barbara Flynn Currie concerning the Legislative Inspector General in her statements. 'And we've established a search committee so that each Legislative Leader can appoint a judge or a former prosecutor to make a recommendation to the LEC about who ought to be the Legislative Inspector General. I think this is a way of making sure we're going to be encouraging people who have very strong qualifications to be on that job.' Senator Steans said in the Senate, 'There were a couple of critical pieces I think needed to be included 10200071.docx 45  STATE OF ILLINOIS 102nd GENERAL ASSEMBLY HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES TRANSCRIPTION DEBATE 71st Legislative Day 2/17/2022 in reform on the Legislative Ethics Commission, making sure there was a new process in place to select the Legislative Inspector General.' We had an offer in compromise to have someone in this role yesterday. As I reviewed and we talk about the three candidates or up to three candidates that were suggested by the recommendations of the search committee, there's an email dated October 15, where the search committee only forwarded two names. The search committee under their own pen confirmed that they did not have more than two recommended candidates from this search process. When the Legislative Ethics Commission went back and asked for a third candidate, they were denied. And under the pen of the search committee, they replied that we do not have a recommended third person to forward to you. So, that third vacancy, up to three in the search committee statute, still stands today. The reason this is so important, folks, is we are talking about the integrity of the institution. And earlier today we had a lively and distracting debate on following the rules regarding masks. But we frequently see suspension of rules and not following the statute where it suits the other side of the aisle. We get suspended rules all the time. Folks, here we are talking about integrity and ethics. We're talking about a fine candidate who we agreed could have been in this role yesterday, but we chose instead not to do that. And I think that shame falls on us. On Inauguration Day I heard the new Speaker say that it is a new day, and I think I also heard him say we would be putting ethics first. I think the result of what I've seen over the last two days calls that commitment and that action into 10200071.docx 46  STATE OF ILLINOIS 102nd GENERAL ASSEMBLY HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES TRANSCRIPTION DEBATE 71st Legislative Day 2/17/2022 question, not for the Representative defending the Bill today, but in the process we need to do better so that we can do better for the people of the State of Illinois. Thank you."

"Thank you, Mr. Speaker. First, a quick inquiry of the Chair on what the vote threshold is for this Resolution to be approved? Did I miss your response?"

"Thank you. To the Resolution. The author of this Resolution, my friend from Rockford, very rightly said some people wait to do. Those of us on this side have been waiting for the Majority to do ethics reform for this General Assembly and the previous General Assembly and the previous General Assembly and the previous General Assembly. The four that I've been here. We are still waiting to do true ethics reform. Carol Pope, a constituent of the 87th District, left this job, as we all know, because of her concerns over how this office is structured and the powers of this office. And let me quote Carol Pope in a story from last year. 'I'm thinking that the Legislature knows the limitations of the power of the LIG and that they want it that way. That's why I said I'm a paper tiger.' That's why she left the job. We have suggestions. We've offered them up on how we can change… make this a much more ethical Body, change the process for the LIG's Office, but those have been refused. Those have been shoved aside. And that's the reason we're here today because a very competent person who I know well left the job because you all did not want to give her the powers that she needs. 10200071.docx 47  STATE OF ILLINOIS 102nd GENERAL ASSEMBLY HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES TRANSCRIPTION DEBATE 71st Legislative Day 2/17/2022 And that's a shame. Yes, this is about process. To the Sponsor, this is absolutely about process. This whole place is about process. This whole place is about rules and statutes and laws. That's what we are, about process. And when the Majority continually flaunts the process… the Representative from the 9th District earlier gave a tremendously passionate speech in response during debate about how important it is to follow the rules. And again, we see the will of the Majority flaunting their status as a supermajority to get what they want done. If I remember correctly, I wasn’t here for one of these at least. Carol Pope, Julie Porter, Tom Homer, there really wasn’t any controversy around their appointments as LIG. I know Judge McCuskey. He will be very competent in this role. I believe that. I just wish we would've gone through the process properly like we have in the past, to properly vet him and let the process work. That's why I'm going to vote 'no' on this because the process is not working. It's nothing about Judge McCuskey. It's about how the Majority has done this. And let me just close with this. In the Speaker's letter to Leader Durkin a week ago, he said, 'It's our unity that help us forge a brighter path for tomorrow.' There is no unity here today, folks. There wasn't unity here earlier. There isn’t unity here on this vote. And that's on you, because of the way you run this chamber, and flaunt the rules of this House. Thank you, Mr. Speaker."

"Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Will the Sponsor yield?"

"Thank you. Representative West, earlier you talked about doing and waiting, correct?"

"So, today we are doing something that we waited from yesterday, right? We could've filled that position and had somebody in that position yesterday, but we chose to wait until today. For the same person. Is that correct?" 10200071.docx 49  STATE OF ILLINOIS 102nd GENERAL ASSEMBLY HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES TRANSCRIPTION DEBATE 71st Legislative Day 2/17/2022

"Who would've been put in yesterday as an Acting LIG with the same power as the actual LIG?"

"Because you wanted… because your side wanted to wait to do. The wait to do."

"Because you chose to wait. Okay. So you chose to wait. Earlier in your opening statement you talked about the… the history of how we got where we are right now. You talked about the most recent Legislative Inspector General Pope turning in her resignation. What you left out was her reasoning for turning in her resignation. Do you recall that?"

"Would you like to expand or would you like me to?"

"Okay. So, she basically said that the reason she's stepping down is because this Body, under the guise of ethic reform, chose to water down that office. Chose to water down that office. She said that office, not just her herself, but that office is now a paper tiger. A paper tiger. It's a dog, right? All bark, no bite. You took the power away from that office. Until we get serious in this Body about ethics reform, it doesn't matter if we appoint Mother Teresa to that position. It doesn’t matter if we appoint Jesus Christ himself to that position because this Body has taken the power away from that position. This Body has, just recently under the 10200071.docx 50  STATE OF ILLINOIS 102nd GENERAL ASSEMBLY HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES TRANSCRIPTION DEBATE 71st Legislative Day 2/17/2022 guise of ethic reform. So, if you actually care about ethics reform… and I'm not talking about the individual that’s up there, right? There is a process prescribed by law, not by rules like we were talking about earlier, but by law there's a process. There's a committee and I… would you assume if we create a committee that the individual should go through that committee or do we just create it just for the heck of it?"

"No, no, no. It shouldn't be."

"You used the search the committee for two people that were recommended."

"You grabbed a third person who was not recommended by the search committee."

"I certainly will. Thank you, Mr. Speaker. So, my point here is, we need to fill this position, but we need to get serious about ethics reform in this place, right? I'm sure you're tired of people walking around saying, oh, you're just a politician, one of those dirty politicians, right? That's what people think, the majority of people. That's why Congress has a 20 percent approval rating. This place probably has a similar approval rating. Because we're not serious about holding ourselves and colleagues accountable. And until we 10200071.docx 51  STATE OF ILLINOIS 102nd GENERAL ASSEMBLY HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES TRANSCRIPTION DEBATE 71st Legislative Day 2/17/2022 get there, it doesn’t matter who we put in this position. I urge a 'no' vote or a 'present' vote."

"Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Is the audio okay?"

"Thank you. To the Resolution. It was almost exactly three years ago to the day that I got to carry Senate Joint Resolution to appoint Carol Pope to be Legislative Inspector General. And I was nervous, as I'm sure Representative West is now, because I knew how important this position is. We have a crisis of confidence in the Legislature being able to police themselves. And I knew, because he's talking about impasse, we had an impasse. We had an impasse with years that went by without a Legislative Inspector General. But ultimately, that impasse got broken and we passed reforms that included this new search committee process because we wanted the selection process to be beyond reproach. We are giving the vetting to people who are not politicians. People who know what it is to be a good investigator. People who know what it is to have somebody who can do the investigation, not be political, and have a fair finding. Because the work of the LEC and LIG is as much to protect the institution as it is to protect the public. And we knew that. So, when we went through the search committee process it was unanimous. I'd like to… if you want, you can look up the Resolution. It was Senate Joint Resolution 48 from 2019. And on that, the cosponsors were all of the Members of the LEC. And some others, including the would be Speaker of the House, Chris Welch, was a cosponsor. It was so bipartisan because we knew 10200071.docx 52  STATE OF ILLINOIS 102nd GENERAL ASSEMBLY HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES TRANSCRIPTION DEBATE 71st Legislative Day 2/17/2022 how important this position was and that it not be political. That is… that's the process we went through and it worked. The process we went through with the search committee can work and should work. But what you're seeing today is a total distortion of what we should have in this Body. It is beyond disappointing. Because we were proud then to appoint a permanent LIG who would police this Body and restore honor to that office and start a process of true ethics reform in the House. Instead we've seen a complete reversal from that from the Majority. And we're seeing today the ultimate reversal from that. Instead of going with a process that makes the selection of the LIG beyond reproach, they're politicizing it to the nth degree by making it so that it's not a bipartisan process. Instead it's one where the supermajority gets to pick their own watch dog. How's the public going to take that. Oh' we have a Majority, we get to pick who gets to be the legislative watch dog for the next three years. It's nuts. It's nuts. We deserve better than this. The people of Illinois deserve better than this. I cannot believe what I'm hearing now, that instead of appointing an acting LIG so that the process would begin in 2023 with a search committee, appointing a permanent Legislative Inspector General today means that they get to circumvent the search committee process when this is up. They can just reappoint him and no search committee can ever happen. If we want a truly independent watch dog 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 do better than this. This isn’t just about process. This is about whether or not you actually want 10200071.docx 53  STATE OF ILLINOIS 102nd GENERAL ASSEMBLY HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES TRANSCRIPTION DEBATE 71st Legislative Day 2/17/2022 to have a Legislative watch dog that’s respected and that could be a watch dog over the General Assembly. And with what you're doing today, it's clear that you don’t."

"Thank you, Mr. Speaker. To the Resolution. I have listened to a number of people on both sides of the aisle speak to the character of Judge McCuskey. Personally I don’t know the judge, but I will take the word of many of the people 10200071.docx 57  STATE OF ILLINOIS 102nd GENERAL ASSEMBLY HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES TRANSCRIPTION DEBATE 71st Legislative Day 2/17/2022 that I deeply respect on both sides of our aisle. The previous speaker stated that a 'no' or a 'present' vote would be a vote against a qualified individual. That's not how I see it. The way I see it, a 'no' or a 'present' vote is a vote to uphold the process that we have in statute for replacing the Legislative Inspector General. What we're doing here today is flawed. What we're doing here today should not be put on Judge McCuskey. We should not be putting a competent person in this position under this flawed process. Ladies and Gentlemen, don’t do this to Judge McCuskey. Don’t do this to the Legislative Inspector General's position. Ladies and Gentlemen, put this aside until we put the judge through the correct process. Thank you."

"No."

"I vehemently disagree with the Speaker's remarks. I vote 'no'."

"He votes 'no'." 10200071.docx 62  STATE OF ILLINOIS 102nd GENERAL ASSEMBLY HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES TRANSCRIPTION DEBATE 71st Legislative Day 2/17/2022

"Friess votes 'present'."

"Halbrook votes 'no'."

"Representative McLaughlin votes 'present'."

"No. No."

"No."

"No."

"Wilhour votes 'no'."