Legislation and Intergovernmental Relations Committee

Roll called at 11:32 Comms. Deer is the only one absent.

This meeting is a public hearing on the amendments to the Ethics Ordinance. Chair Suffredin explained that after this hearing they will go over the feedback then come out with a new draft and updated memo and hold a hearing on that before taking it to a vote.

The agenda and proposed amendments can be found here: https://cook-county.legistar.com/MeetingDetail.aspx?ID=847966&GUID=486AC44B-0DFD-4F1A-B1E8-A89262A6746B&

The full text of the proposed amendment can be found here: https://cook-county.legistar.com/LegislationDetail.aspx?ID=4649689&GUID=7EB91FB1-C206-4AE7-8C23-F2F5379FB84C&Options=&Search=

The chair of the board of ethics is the first speaker and suggested some minor changes to the section that addresses employees disclosing conflicts of interest and pointed out some “odd language” around employee compliance in investigations and suggested some tweaks.

Technological difficulties abound! The infamous unintentional mute steals the show as it tends to.

David (couldn’t catch last name) addresses the scandals that run rampant in IL politics and the all time low trust in the local government right now and the necessity of updated ethics standards

He goes on to say that he thinks all of the energy here should go towards preventing conflicts of interest and regulating sources outside income for government employees/elected officials considering that seems to be the biggest struggle around here.

He asks about the language around campaign donation maximums and Chair Suffredin essentially says it’s complicated, to which David Orr* says “people can give $750 in a non-election year and twice that in an election year, it doesn’t seem that complicated to me.”

Chair Suffredin briefly goes over some suggestions they have already received before this hearing, including cleaning up the sexual harassment section and fleshing out sections concerning conflicts of interest.

Comm. Degnen emphasizes the need to put more work into expanding the language on the section on economic interest. She stresses the need to make that language clear and accessible to ensure constituent trust and support in their electeds.

Chair Suffredin takes a question confirming that they will be doing their best to prevent preemptions with the ordinance, and there are no further questions or testifiers

Chair Suffredin briefly reiterated the process that will unfold now with the revisions of the ordinance then another hearing with a new draft before a vote then adjourned the meeting at 11:58.

Check out @CookCountyBoard and @CHIdocumenters for more information and reporting! Happy Monday!