Lt. Gov. Quinn calls for state government 'fumigation'
SPRINGFIELD- Launching a spring ethics push, Lt. Gov. Pat Quinn has asked the same lawyer who prosecuted former Gov. George Ryan to recommend ways to “fumigate” state government.
Quinn Monday will name former federal prosecutor Patrick Collins to chair a panel to draw up legislation and other reforms to respond to the litany of alleged wrongdoing tied to Gov. Blagojevich.
(AP)
“He's indefatigable, tireless and an extremely hard worker,” Quinn said of Collins. “He's just what the doctor ordered for beginning to provide remedies to Illinois' political ills.”
Quinn will announce Collins' appointment to the unpaid post Monday during an appearance at the City Club. The panel eventually could comprise a dozen or so appointees, Quinn said, and will issue a report “with all deliberate speed.”
“The purpose of this commission is to take someone of impeccable integrity, as its leader, and within a short period of time…really lay out for the people a blueprint for reform - whether it be laws that we need or changes in practice,” Quinn said.
The lieutenant governor would not say specifically what reforms he would like to see originate from the commission other than the need for “a laser-like focus on how do we root out the undue influence of special-interest money in politics.”
The commission may have public hearings, Quinn said, and will consider input from voters who visit a website the lieutenant governor has created: www.reformillinoisnow.org.
Collins, now a partner in the Perkins Coie law firm, served as the lead federal prosecutor in the Operation Safe Roads investigation that delved into massive fund-raising abuses in the secretary of state's office and culminated in Ryan's criminal conviction in 2006.