Springfield, IL (Capitol News Illinois) – The Illinois Legislative Ethics Commission voted unanimously to release an investigative report from the Legislative Inspector General about former state Rep. Harry Benton.
Officials say the report won’t be released immediately, but instead, likely by the end of next week, as state law requires time for all involved parties to request redactions and provide a response to the report.
Capitol News Illinois notes the vote comes just a day after Gov. J.B. Pritzker was pressed with questions related to House Speaker Emanuel “Chris” Welch’s conduct and lack of action when handling complaints related to Benton.
The Governor noted, ““We live in a state where we have for too long had a history of corruption that needed to be rooted out, and it is being rooted out, but never fast enough, and never, in my view, investigated enough or reported enough.”
According to Pritzker, Welch has held a series of meetings this week, in which he has taken feedback and explained his actions in handling the Benton case.
Capitol News Illinois is a nonprofit, nonpartisan news service that distributes state government coverage to hundreds of news outlets statewide. It is funded primarily by the Illinois Press Foundation and the Robert R. McCormick Foundation.
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