Peoria Standard

Illinois state Rep. Tim Butler (R-Springfield) does not mince words about his contempt for allowing someone serving on the State Board of Elections to also have influence over a political committee under the board's jurisdiction.

“I think it is unconscionable,” Butler said at a press conference introducing legislation aimed at limiting conflicts of interest in Springfield. “We’ve talked about ethics a lot over the last two weeks and I think this really highlights another avenue we need to look at it when it comes to ethics laws and election laws in the state of Illinois.”

Those discussions have been sparked by a growing number of federal corruption probes of which several Democratic state lawmakers are at the center. Butler says enough is enough.

“I’ve introduced House Bill 3963, which says a member or spouse of a member of the State Board of Elections shall not be able to direct or oversee funds of an account,” he said. “Additionally, if a person has had a previous account as an elected official, that account must be dissolved before approval to the State Board of Elections.”

Butler says he is hoping lawmakers will act quickly to move the legislation along.

“This is one of the easy fixes we’ve talked about that we can address quickly,” he said.