Pritzker Again Calls on Madigan to Testify Before House Committee
House Speaker Michael Madigan (D-Chicago) and Governor JB Pritzker speak on the House floor on May 31, 2019. (SOURCE: NPR Illinois)
Governor JB Pritzker Wednesday again called on House Speaker Michael Madigan to testify before the House Special Investigative Committee probing the Speaker’s role in a $1.3 million bribery scheme by utility company Commonwealth Edison. But Pritzker did not go so far to say that he supports a subpoena to compel the Speaker to testify.
Asked Wednesday if he believes Madigan should testify, Pritzker said “yes” and that the Speaker needs to make public statements about his ties to the crime which forced ComEd to pay a $200 million fine.
“It’s an important opportunity for this committee to receive testimony,” he said. “It’s an opportunity to get answers the public deserves to get. I strongly believe the Speaker should take any opportunity, and this is one, to present answers to the questions all of us have.”
Pritzker’s spokesperson has not responded to an e-mail asking if he supports a subpoena.
Madigan wrote to the committee last week informing members he would not testify willingly.
Republicans on the committee attempted to force a vote on subpoenas Tuesday, but Committee Chairman Rep. Emanuel Chris Welch (D-Hillside) denied a vote on the subpoenas calling them “premature.”
Two other House Democrats, Rep. Natalie Manley (D-Joliet) and Rep. Lisa Hernandez (D-Cicero) attempted to minimize Madigan’s participation in the ComEd scheme while questioning company lawyer David Glockner Tuesday.
Glockner revealed, though, that an email existed from a Madigan district office staffer forwarding a resume from former Metropolitan Pier and Exposition Authority, often known as McPier, CEO Juan Ochoa, who was seeking a seat on the ComEd Board of Directors. The email reportedly said Madigan had “asked’ the resume be forwarded, which could be the first direct link to Madigan attempting to procure jobs for allies. In most of the testimony Tuesday, the intermediary between job seekers, ComEd, and potentially Madigan, was Mike McClain, a former lobbyist, State Representative, and Madigan confidante.