LITCHFIELD — Since it was revealed two weeks ago that ComEd agreed to pay a $200 million fine for a pay-to-play scheme that involved Speaker of the House Mike Madigan, dozens of House and Senate Republicans and a growing number of House and Senate Democrats have called for the Speaker’s resignation. State Representative Avery Bourne (R-Morrisonville) called on the Speaker to resign on July 17th, and today added to that call by signing on as a co-sponsor of legislation that would officially strip Madigan of his role of House Speaker and calls for a new vote for Speaker of the House.
HR 885 points to the deferred prosecution agreement entered into on July 17 between ComEd and the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Northern District of Illinois, and states that trust in the Speaker has been misplaced for many years. The resolution goes on to state that members of the House of Representatives have no confidence that Mike Madigan can continue in the role of Speaker and is removed from the position.
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“ComEd has admitted that the facts of the case are true, and has agreed to pay an exorbitant sum to make partial restitution for their role in this corrupt scheme to benefit Speaker Madigan,” said Bourne. “They admitted they paid out $1.3 million to gain favor with the Speaker so their controversial bills would get passed. Those facts are not in dispute.”
The facts of the case show that between 2011-2019, ComEd arranged for jobs, contracts, payoffs, and a seat on the ComEd Board for Madigan allies, some of whom did little or no work for their compensation. ComEd did these favors in order to please Madigan, who controls the movement, or non-movement, of bills in the Illinois House. In this case, Madigan pushed through two pieces of legislation that enriched ComEd on the backs of consumers.
“ComEd has admitted its guilt in this pay-to-play scheme involving Speaker Madigan,” Bourne said. “As ‘Public Official A’ in the federal corruption investigation in Illinois, Mike Madigan should have resigned the day that news broke. But since he appears unwilling to do the right thing, I have signed on to HR 855 to strip him of the Speakership. The Illinois House should return to session immediately to elect a new Speaker of the House.”
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