(The Center Square) – A bipartisan chorus of lawmakers calling on
Illinois House Speaker Michael Madigan to step down from his leadership
positions or resign from the General Assembly got louder Thursday as
lawmakers also called for a special session to address ethics reforms.
Ethics reforms were top of mind for legislators earlier this year when they
created a commission to formulate ideas. That was after months of revelations
of federal investigations, lawmakers wearing wiretaps, indictments, and office
raids. But then the COVID-19 pandemic rocked the world.
Earlier this month, the U.S. Attorney for the Northern District of Illinois
released a deferred prosecution agreement with utility ComEd that implicated
Madigan. While Madigan hasn’t been charged with a crime, some expect that to
come soon. It’s also brought renewed focus on Illinois public corruption
problems.
Illinois House Minority Jim Durkin, R-Western Springs, released a statement
Thursday calling on Madigan, D-Chicago, to step down immediately from his
legislative seat and for the legislature to vote on a new speaker.
“Federal charges outlined in the ComEd prosecution highlight a scheme solely
for the benefit of Speaker Madigan,” Durkin said. “Madigan is unable to execute
his responsibilities as Speaker of the Illinois House.
“I call for the immediate resignation of Speaker Madigan from the Illinois
House of Representatives, and will be filing a resolution to have the House
Chamber vote on a new Speaker immediately,” Durkin said.
That’d require a special session. That’s something that can be called by
either the governor, the Senate President or the Speaker of the House, which is
Madigan.
Asked Thursday if he would rely on Madigan to call a special session, Gov.
J.B. Pritzker said he’s not relying on Madigan but didn’t say if he would call
one to focus on ethics.
“There’s also more that we need to learn and the U.S. Attorney clearly is on
a path here. We’re going to learn more,” Pritzker said. “There’s no doubt about
it. And from that information, it will inform us on how to write the laws that
will prevent that in the future.”
Also on Thursday, state Rep. Kelly Cassidy, D-Chicago, joined the bipartisan
chorus for Madigan to step down from his leadership roles in the House and the
Democratic Party of Illinois.
State Sen. Paul Schimpf, R-Waterloo, said enough has been made clear and
called for a special session.
“The checks that ComEd wrote, they were cashed,” Schimpf said. “The cronies
were hired for these jobs. That did take place and this culture of corruption
that we have in Springfield, that is a leadership failure on the part of
Speaker Madigan.”
Messages seeking comment from Madigan’s office regarding a special session
and Durkin’s call for Madigan's resignation were not returned.
State Sen. Andy Manar, D-Bunker Hill, told WMAY he would like to see a
special session of the legislature to deal with ethics reforms.
“The time has come to do them,” Manar said. “These [various ethics reforms
proposals] have been around for a very, very long time and I think most of them
would receive broad bipartisan support from both sides of the aisle.”
But Manar said Madigan should only step down if he’s indicted, something he
said: “could be coming at any time.”
Pritzker Thursday said the speaker needs to speak up.
“I think the speaker has an enormous amount to answer for,” Pritzker said.
“There are questions that the public needs to hear the answer to. I do too. So
that’s what I would start with here, questions, about, you know, what happened
here?”
Pritzker wouldn’t say if he’d call for a special session anytime soon to
focus on ethics reforms.