Illinois ethics panel accepts resignation and moves to quickly name acting legislative watchdog

Rick Pearson and Jeremy Gorner, Chicago Tribune on Sep 10, 2026

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The state’s Legislative Ethics Commission agreed Thursday to a Sept. 30 retirement date for Michael McCuskey as the legislature’s top ethics watchdog and said it plans to move quickly to appoint an acting legislative inspector general who could end up serving the nearly two years remaining in McCuskey’s term.

The commission — made up of two lawmakers from each of the General Assembly’s House and Senate Democratic and Republican caucuses — said in an announcement that it plans to name McCuskey’s interim successor soon so the appointee could start on Oct. 1.

“We did not want the office vacant,” said Republican state Rep. Jeff Keicher of Sycamore, who chairs the ethics commission.

“What is going on right now in the ethics space in the Illinois General Assembly is too important not to fulfill our duty to have that chair filled,” Keicher said. “With the level of concern being raised, with some of the issues that are out there, we want to be sure that complainants, victims and witnesses are heard, and that their complaints are given due process and consideration.”

McCuskey, a former state and federal judge who has held the legislative inspector general post since 2022, announced earlier this week that he was resigning after his tenure became clouded by controversy following his investigation that found former Democratic state Rep. Harry Benton of Plainfield had sexually harassed women in violation of state law. One of Benton’s victims, a female lobbyist, raised questions about McCuskey’s behavior during his investigation.

McCuskey, 78, was appointed legislative inspector general in 2022 through a joint legislative resolution to finish the term of Carol Pope, who resigned after calling the office “essentially a paper tiger.” The legislature approved him in 2023 for a full five-year term, set to run until June 30, 2028.

In its announcement, the commission noted that the acting legislative inspector general “is empowered to perform the same duties as a permanent LIG, and, if necessary, may serve until the current term ends on June 30, 2028.”

Keicher said the prospect of an acting legislative inspector general serving that long without General Assembly approval should not be problematic, given the ethics commission’s politically bipartisan makeup.

“The next step would be each of the four leaders has the opportunity to appoint a representative, as outlined in statute, to a search committee to consider any resumes that are submitted” for a permanent legislative inspector general, Keicher said.

“Then those names, or name, comes to the (Legislative Ethics Commission) for consideration (and) putting forward to the entire General Assembly to then become the LIG,” he said. “But that appointment is only through the end of this LIG term, which ends June 30th, 2028. And then the (legislature) would need to act to reappoint or to appoint a new LIG starting July 1, 2028.”

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