Some Illinois lawmakers – including Elaine Nekritz, Christine Radogno and Tim Bivins – recently resigned or announced they will not run for re-election. Any options they may have for their next steps could even include lobbying for the time being, under the state’s revolving door policy.
Current policy says state employees cannot accept a job from other entities that were part of state contracts for one year after they leave their state job. Executive branch employees are not able to become lobbyists for one year after they leave their state job.
Sarah Brune, with the Illinois Campaign for Political Reform, says that was mandated by Gov. Bruce Rauner early in his term.
“Because it was an executive order, that policy doesn’t extend to the General Assembly,” Brune said. “That would have to come through a piece of legislation signed into law.”
Brune says the ICPR supported a bill filed in January that would require those restrictions to apply to lawmakers as well.
“So the idea is that it would be inappropriate for individuals to take relationships that they formed sort of on taxpayer time and use those for a private or personal benefit,” Brune said.
The non-partisan public interest group also completed a report in 2016 comparing Illinois’s policy to other states. It found Illinois is one of four states that doesn’t have revolving door restrictions that apply to lawmakers.
