We Should All Care What This Looks Like
House Speaker Michael Madigan has so far refused to testify about his involvement in a Commonwealth Edison bribery scheme and one of his top lieutenants has blocked efforts to issue a subpoena compelling Madigan to testify.
Back in 2007, as a reporter in Champaign, I was covering a lot of unrest and dissension around the University of Illinois, its Board of Trustees, and a load of issues that eventually took down the school’s President, Chancellor, and other high-ranking officials.
When three members of the Board of Trustees had been re-appointed by then-Governor Rod Blagojevich, Sen. Dale Righter (R-Charleston) asked to question them before a Senate vote, but then-Senator Rickey Hendon (D-Chicago) denied his request and rushed the appointments through.
In his comments venting, I remember Righter talking about how even if there was nothing to hide, nothing illegal, or nothing improper, Hendon’s actions made it look like there was something nefarious going on and “we should all care what this looks like.”
That feeling of caring about how state government and its leadership looks is a good reminder today, especially as powerful Speaker of the House Michael Madigan is embroiled in allegations he was not only aware, but actively involved in a bribery scheme from energy utility Commonwealth Edison.
Madigan hasn’t been charged with a crime, but when legislators opened a “Special Investigative Committee” to look into the allegations that have been made, most specifically in the U.S. Attorney’s Deferred Prosecution Agreement with ComEd, they didn’t have to prove criminality, they just had to prove the indefinite term “conduct unbecoming of a legislator.”
The last time the legislature took up a similar investigative committee was in 2012 when then-State Rep. Derrick Smith (D-Chicago) was charged with taking a $7,000 bribe. The scheme Madigan has been connected to? $1.3 million over the better part of a decade.
In 2012, when the House voted to expel Smith from the body, his actions were harshly criticized by Democratic lawmakers.
"Taking public action not because it's best for the people of Illinois but because someone has offered me a bribe to do so is something that is very contrary to our mission as state legislators,” said then-House Majority Leader Barbara Flynn Currie (D-Chicago) at the time, Madigan’s longtime second in command in the House.
"You don't even have to decide if he took a bribe," said former State Representative Lou Lang (D-Skokie) at the time. “What you have to decide is whether he violated his oath of office, and if he violated his oath of office he is not a fit member to be in this body."
My how the tone has changed when you go from a backbenching nobody from the west side to the powerful wizard from the southwest side who pulls all the strings on appointments, legislation, and, most importantly, campaign cash.
Committee Chairman Emanuel Chris Welch (D-Hillside) is right when he says Republicans are trying to make some hay out of the scandal.
Duh.
Madigan is drowning Republicans in cash and Madigan knows his actions, perceptions, and approval ratings are going to be a big part of GOP efforts to stop the bleeding in the suburbs. But, here’s the thing: that was their strategy before Madigan’s potential role was exposed in the prosecution agreement between the U.S. Attorney and ComEd.
For their part, in the hearings, the two Republicans in hotly contested races, Rep. Deanne Mazzochi (R-Elmhurst) and Rep. Grant Wehrli (R-Elmhurst) have been honest brokers. Mazzochi, an attorney who sits in more depositions in a week than we would ever like to be a part of in our lives, asked probing, direct, and thoughtful questions to a ComEd witness without grandstanding or playing the “gotcha” game we see so often in Washington.
They jumped the shark a little when Welch announced he was tabling the hearings until after the election. Mazzochi called him a “coward,” and Wehrli said Welch had decided “integrity doesn’t matter.” That’s a little more theater than the deathly serious issue they’re trying to portray.
But Welch’s actions along the way, practically begging the U.S. Attorney to shut down the committee, killing subpoena requests for Madigan and others related to the case, and, of course, delaying the action until after the election adds a big old jug of kerosene to the old saying “where there’s smoke there’s fire.” The message was always going to be Madigan, and this just exacerbates it.
Sadly, it seems, Democrats in the House don’t care what this looks like. Madigan has more than enough money to get his candidates across the finish line November 3rd and he knows he’s only responsible to a few thousand voters in his district and however many members of his caucus can get him to 60 votes for Speaker.
To his credit, Democratic Governor JB Pritzker has been front-and-center in calls for Madigan to “speak up” and to testify before the committee, but he has since refused to say whether Madigan should be subpoenaed. The only guy in Springfield who can lord cash and the threats of primaries over Democrats more than Madigan? Pritzker. If he wants to be the big dog in the Democratic party, this is his first step in showing it.
Welch clearly doesn’t care what this looks like, as he lives in a safe Democratic seat. That’s why Pritzker should be threatening people who don’t support reform with well-funded primary challengers.
Until lawmakers start to care what their actions look like, the public will continue to have no trust in what they actually do.
