Kendall County Times

Veteran state Sen. Jim Oberweis (R-Sugar Grove) prides himself on having long been advocating for the kinds of changes in Springfield many are now just talking about.

“Count me as one who has been in the chorus of calls for ethics reforms long before these recent scandals ever came to light,” Oberweis told the Kendall County Times. “We have a culture of corruption in Springfield that has needed to be fixed for a long time.”

Now running against Democrat incumbent U.S. Rep. Lauren Underwood in the 14th Congressional District, Oberweis points to the recent indictment of state Sen. Terry Link (D-Indian Creek) on tax evasion charges as a prime example of everything that’s wrong with Springfield.

Link is now the fourth Democrat lawmaker who’s strongly backed the progressive tax system being pushed by Gov. J.B. Pritzker to now find himself facing criminal charges.

“We know what needs to be done,” Oberweis added. “It is time to go about enacting the reforms we need. How many more legislators will have to be indicted before we take the issue of ethics reforms seriously? We need reforms and we need them now.”

Link joins former state Rep. Luis Arroyo, who faces up to 10 years in prison, and state Sen. Tom Cullerton, who has been hit with a 41-count indictment on embezzlement charges. One-time state Sen. Martin Sandoval has already pleaded guilty to taking $250,000 in bribes from SafeSpeed, a red-light camera vendor.

And then there is longtime House Speaker Mike Madigan, who now finds himself implicated in an ongoing federal corruption probe involving ComEd in which it’s alleged bribes were steered to several of his close associates as part of a pay-to-play scheme aimed at currying favor with him.

Oberweis argues ousting Madigan is one of several things that need to happen to bring about real change.

“We need to stop the revolving door that allows legislators to quit the legislature one day and become a lobbyist the very next day,” he said. “We need better financial disclosure laws and more stringent requirements for conflicts of interest. And, above all, we need term limits which would be the most powerful limitation on the kind of power wielded by Mike Madigan for the last 30 years.”