Gov. Rod Blagojevich said Wednesday that a trip to a posh Puerto Rican resort paid by companies and lobbyists for 11 Latino legislators creates a “perception problem.”
Speaking at a church on Chicago’s South Side, the governor said Illinois legislators may have to look at ways to close a loophole in state ethics laws that allowed the firms to sponsor the trip and doesn’t require any disclosure of the payments.
“It’s a perception problem. There is no question about that,” Blagojevich said.
The Tribune reported Wednesday that 11 members of the Illinois Legislative Latino Caucus spent four days this month at the beachfront Caribe Hilton. It was sponsored by 50 companies and lobbyists who were asked to pay between $3,000 and $10,000 to cover lawmakers’ airfares, hotels and meals.
The sponsorships came despite a major overhaul late last year of ethics law that prohibited legislators from receiving gifts worth more than $75. A long-standing exemption in state ethics laws permits such trips if they are “educational missions.”
“My administration, passed the most sweeping, landmark ethics legislation that Illinois has ever seen,” Blagojevich said. “We have to take a look and see whether there are better ways to be able to make the ethics legislation applicable so that things like this [don’t] discourage the public from feeling good about how their government operates.”
Also attending the retreat was Jesse Ruiz, the lawyer for the caucus who was also recently named by the governor to chair the Illinois State Board of Education. He also received free airfare and hotel accommodations, he said.
Blagojevich didn’t respond on Wednesday when asked what he thought of Ruiz going on the trip.
State Rep. Edward Acevedo (D-Chicago), co-chairman of the caucus, called the retreat a working trip. He said the group discussed legislative strategies for the veto session that begins Nov. 8.
While one day of the program was devoted to caucus meetings, the schedule also allowed time for recreational and social activities such as golf, shopping and beach trips.
