Manley Cracks Down on Corruption, Helps Pass Ethics Reform Legislation

ROMEOVILLE, Ill. – To ensure that state government is working as effectively as possible, state Rep. Natalie Manley, D-Joliet, helped pass legislation last week that would place additional restrictions and oversight on elected officials and political insiders.

“As we work to assist many residents and small businesses that have struggled to make ends meet during the pandemic, we must also not lose focus on other critical issues. Allowing a politician to enrich themselves by ‘taking advantage of a system’ that is in place, is unacceptable.” said Manley. “Structural change is long overdue. By passing this legislation, we’ve made a huge first step by making it clear that if corruption or unethical behavior is found, it will not be tolerated.”

As part of her efforts to fight against corruption in Springfield, Manley voted in favor of Senate Bill 539. The legislation strengthens existing ethics laws in a number of ways, including ensuring legislators are not taking advantage of taxpayers by receiving pay on days they did not work and prohibiting officials from becoming lobbyists until 6 months after their term ends. The bill also adds oversight on political insiders by requiring additional transparency from lobbyists.

“There are many issues that our constituents are counting on us to solve and ethics reform was one of them,” said Manley. “As I’ve always done, I will continue to consider any legislative fix that holds all elected officials accountable to their constituents.”