A Conflict of Interest, But It’s Legal in Illinois

by FREDRIC N. TULSKY and JOHN SULLIVAN | Jan 6, 2012

In most states and municipalities, government officials who vote to spend taxpayer dollars on proposals that also put money in their own pockets as lobbyists could be accused of illegal conflicts of interest. Not in Illinois.

Thanks to state and local ethics laws riddled with loopholes, it was legal for Jack Dorgan, a village trustee in Rosemont, to vote last year to award a lucrative contract to a client of his Springfield lobbying firm.

Dorgan is not alone in his dual roles. Elected officials at every level in Illinois — from the village board to the state legislature — can use their positions to benefit paying clients or even family members, according to an examination of thousands of documents by Medill Watchdog, a journalism program at Northwestern University.