Illinois Policy: Illinois House Speaker Michael Madigan is implicated in a federal bribery case against Commonwealth Edison, alleging the utility won Madigan’s favor to back legislation by directing $1.3 million in contracts and payments to his associates and letting him name people for jobs, from meter reader on up.
Madigan’s office July 17 received a grand jury subpoena for documents related to the ongoing federal investigation, according to WGN. According to Mark Maxwell of WCIA-TV, Capitol Police at the Illinois State Capitol in Springfield saw men in suits enter the building Friday morning. One flashed an FBI badge.
Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker called on Madigan to resign if the allegations are true. Madigan said they aren’t true, and he is cooperating.
The deferred prosecution agreement with ComEd was released Friday and outlined years of bribery involving “Public Official A,” who was later referred to as Illinois’ House speaker. ComEd agreed to a $200 million fine and to admit seeking Madigan’s help with legislation worth more than $150 million to the company. Criminal charges will be dropped against the utility if it satisfies the agreement. Madigan himself is not charged with bribery.
“Certain senior executives and agents of ComEd were also aware of the purpose of these payments to Public Official A’s associates, namely, that they were intended to influence and reward Public Official A in connection with Public Official A’s official duties and to advance ComEd’s business interests,” the agreement states. more
PS. Madigan’s daughter was Illinois Attorney General until 2019.
This is a curious statement (from the article): “As the feds close in, Illinois state lawmakers should be asking themselves how much more embarrassment and imprisonment the state needs before enacting ethics reforms.”
Strengthening ethics rules won’t solve this problem. State and federal laws are laws are in place that make these behaviors punishable, but those are ignored, too. The plain truth is that many Democrats (and some Republicans) believe taking an oath of office gives them the right to cut a fat hog.
Now which POS former POTUS hailed from the utterly corrupt Chicago crime/political machine?
Oh yeah, it was the “community organizer” (who would likely be a leader in BLM/pantifa terrorist groups if he did it now).
Is Madigan(D) really so stupid that he didn’t use bagmen lawyers, cutouts, shell corporations, and foundations to allow for “credible deniability” the way every other pol does it?
Looks like the answer to that is “Yes”.
I am glad that people are starting to be held accountable.
I do not think this is isolated to the people with (D) after their names, but it does appear that more of them are showing up than those with the (R).
@ Braden Lynch,
How do you know that he’s not the leader (or one of them, anyway)?
And “The Donald” moves another piece on the “FU Dirtbags” chessboard.
@Brown Eyed Girl – Dang, “cut a fat hog”? I haven’t heard that phrase in a coons age. Wait, can I say “coon’s age” without being called a racist? I will take my chances.
@RogerF — We shouldn’t be niggardly in our use of these nice old words and expressions. (-:
Few politicians served with honor – many with subpoenas…
I would love to know why Pritzker isn’t protecting him.