DeKalb Times

State Sen. Brian Stewart isn’t happy with the process that led to the Illinois State Senate approving Judge Michael P. McCuskey as the new legislative inspector general. Stewart and other Republicans  criticized how quickly the selection was made. The Illinois Senate approved McCuskey 37-17-1 less than three days after his vetting began. 

His appointment now heads to the House for a vote.

“Democrat members of the LEC want to do everything their own way and they want their own candidate,” Stewart, a member of the LEC, said on his Facebook account. “A process has been put in place for this task, but the Democrat members chose to ignore it. To the public, it could appear that those lawmakers want to police themselves and hand-pick their ethics watchdog.”

Candidates previously appeared before a citizen search committee. Interviews were conducted and the committee recommended the best candidates for consideration by the Legislative Ethics Commission. Senate Minority Leader Dan McConchie (R-Hawthorn Woods) said McCuskey agreed to go through the proper process, which was ultimately cut short. Republicans feel Democrats quickly pushed him through a makeshift process so they could have their pick in the LIG role

McCuskey was nominated to become a federal judge by former President Bill Clinton in 1998 after presiding over cases for the 10th Judicial Circuit Court and 3rd District Appellate Court. He served on the U.S. District Court for the Central District of Illinois from 1998 to 2014. McCuskey returned as a judge for the 10th Judicial Circuit Court from 2014 to 2020. He also served 15 years on the Illinois Supreme Court Commission on Professionalism.

“Obviously, he’s a very good judge,” said Sen. Jil Tracy (R-Quincy), who chairs the Legislative Ethics Commission. “And he’s a very fine reader of statutory authority. But, should we just say, 'OK, yeah, let’s just hire you and ignore the process?’ Why do we have a process? We showed how failed we were in the process that wasn’t in place before 2017.”

Former LIG Carol Pope announced her resignation in July and committed to staying in the role until a replacement was found. She said her resignation was due in part because lawmakers made her job "essentially a paper tiger."

She officially left the post on Jan. 6, disappointed that no one would fill the role. 

Senate President Don Harmon said McCuskey was approved because the role is too important to stay vacant for as long as it has, and his caucus took decisive action.