Chicago City Wire

With longtime House Speaker Mike Madigan now implicated in a widening federal corruption probe, Northwest Side GOP Club President Ammie Kessem is urging Illinois voters to take back their power.

“Voters need to start paying more attention to these crooked politicians,” Kessem told Chicago City Wire shortly after federal prosecutors unveiled a criminal complaint alleging ComEd engaged in a “years-long bribery scheme” involving jobs, contracts and payments to the Democratic Party Chairman and the state’s longest-running lawmaker.

“Somehow, he gets re-elected year after year,” Kessem added. “I guess now we have a glimpse as to how that was happening.”  

Madigan, who easily reigns as the longest-tenured lawmaker in the state, now finds himself at the center of a still-evolving probe into ComEd, in which prosecutors are on record in asserting that the company engaged in a “years-long bribery scheme” involving jobs, contracts and payments that were steered to him in his role as house speaker and chairman of the Illinois Democratic Party.

While stopping short of formally levying any charges, prosecutors contend Commonwealth Edison attempted to “influence and reward” Madigan by providing financial benefits to those directly tied to him.

In announcing the case against ComEd, U.S. Attorney John Lausch noted that the investigation is ongoing as public corruption continues to run rampant across Illinois.

None of it comes as a surprise to Kessem.

“I’ve been calling on him to resign for years now,” she said. “He has had scandal after scandal within his office and administration. I think he should have seen the writing on the wall.”

The Chicago Tribune reports federal investigators have already subpoenaed Madigan for information including “possible job recommendations.”

In a statement, a spokesperson for Madigan said he plans to cooperate with the probe, adding “The speaker has never helped someone find a job with the expectation that the person would not be asked to perform work by their employer, nor did he ever expect to provide anything to a prospective employer if it should choose to hire a person he recommended.”

Several media outlets have reported the subpoena also seeks records related to Madigan’s political organization and law firm, as well as dealings about his relationship with several former and current lawmakers. The scheme is suspected to date back to 2011, with many of the unanswered questions revolving around longtime Madigan confidante Michael McClain.

Federal agents raided McClain’s Quincy home last year and the Tribune has reported at one point authorities secretly taped his phone calls.

In 2018, when several of his close associates were named as suspects in a sexual harassment probe, Kessem compared the Madigan Machine to a mob operation with the speaker as the unquestioned boss.

“It is his responsibility to assure the government protects people, but under his leadership the group has twisted its power for personal gain,” she said.