“You shouldn’t be a lawmaker one day and a lobbyist the next.”

– Senate President Harmon

SPRINGFIELD — Illinois Senate President Don Harmon echoed Gov. JB Pritzker’s call for ethics reform in the wake of ongoing federal investigations.

In his State of the State address Wednesday, Pritzker said he wanted Illinois to adopt a revolving door prohibition to prevent elected officials from retiring one day and then immediately lobbying their former colleagues.

Harmon offered his support for the idea.

“I’ve long been troubled by the appearance of someone serving as a member of the General Assembly on Friday and becoming a lobbyist on Monday. That’s a problem and one we should tackle,” Harmon said. “You shouldn’t be a lawmaker one day and a lobbyist the next.”

Harmon also applauded Pritzker’s optimistic, positive tone to the speech, which was a marked contrast to the previous governor.

In his State of the State speech, Pritzker referenced a record high 6.2 million jobs in Illinois, the lowest unemployment rate in the state’s history, a litany of fast-growing businesses and renewed interest in the state’s public universities among the successes Illinois experienced in the past year.

“It’s refreshing to have a governor be the lead cheerleader for the state,” Harmon said. “We need a governor telling the rest of the world what’s going right in Illinois.”

Harmon, an Oak Park Democrat, was elected Senate President by his colleagues earlier this month.

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