Illinois General Assembly Republicans are calling for a special session from Governor J.B. Pritzker to deal with ethics reform.
Republican State Representatives David Welter and Keith Welter are calling for a joint hearing of the House Public Utilities and Energy & Environment Committees to investigate the lobbying and bribery practices of ComEd during the period of 2011-2019 to determine the impact on residential and commercial customers in terms of higher costs passed on to them as a result.
Representatives Deanne Mazzochi, Ryan Spain, Dan Ugaste, and Grant Wehrli are asking Pritzker to convene the special session of the General Assembly on the heals of the deferred prosecution agreement filed in U.S. District Court last week that implicated House Speaker Michael Madigan.
House Republican Leader Jim Durkin said on Friday that any efforts to have ethics reform in the General Assembly during regular session this year was blocked: “For too long, one man, Speaker Michael Madigan, has held so much power. The old axiom goes, ‘Power tends to corrupt, and absolute power corrupts absolutely.’ The chance for ethics reform this session have been blocked. The system had been rigged to benefit those in power, and to keep the Democratic Party in control while the citizens of Cook County and Illinois suffer.”
The Illinois Senate Republican Caucus issued a joint public statement today asking for the immediate resignation of Madigan and called on fellow Democrats to get on board with ethics reform and in the calls for Madigan’s resignation.
Members of the Democratic House Progressive Caucus of the General Assembly issued a similar statement yesterday saying that if the allegations of bribery against Madigan are true, he should resign immediately and cooperate with federal investigators. The 12 caucus members said the allegations disclosed Friday by federal prosecutors in Chicago are “an unacceptable breach of public trust.” They called on Madigan and any other elected officials involved in the scheme to step down. The Progressive Caucus is led by Representatives Will Guzzardi and Theresa Mah of Chicago and Carol Ammons of Urbana.
Madigan has not yet been formally charged.