David Friess | Contributed photo
David Friess | Contributed photo
Republican state House candidate David Friess is reminded of his motivation in seeking public office by the brewing scandal involving House Speaker Mike Madigan.
“I’m running to put an end to this Chicago-style corruption that is destroying our state,” Friess, set to face off against Democrat incumbent state Rep. Nathan Reitz (D-Steeleville) in the 116th District in November, told the SE Illinois News. “I’m running to end the corrupt pact between the Chicago politicians and downstate democrats.”
Friess points to the Madigan situation as the latest example of all the dysfunction.
The state’s longest serving lawmaker, Madigan now finds himself at the center of an ongoing federal corruption probe into ComEd where investigators contend that the company engaged in a “years-long bribery scheme” involving jobs, contracts and payments that were steered to him in his role as house speaker and chairman.
Though no charges have been filed against the Illinois Democratic Party chairman, prosecutors have not been shy in asserting that the utility giant attempted to “influence and reward” him by providing financial benefits to those directly tied to him.
“Absolutely Speaker Madigan should resign,” Friess added. “The allegations set forth in the deferred prosecution statement of facts by ComEd are very serious. Instead of holding Madigan accountable, my opponent is supporting him.”
No matter what, Friess said he doesn’t expect to see Madigan just walk away.
“He is so arrogant I don’t believe he thinks he did anything wrong,” he said. “The fact that more Democrats, including Nathan Reitz, are not demanding his resignation tells me the Democrats have accepted this level of corruption from their leaders and they are fine with it.”
Friess argues much of what’s happening in Springfield right now screams out for the kind of ethics reform he believes is desperately needed.
“The fact we have a governor and Speaker of the house under federal investigation are two illustrations as to why we need ethics reform and a completely new culture in Springfield,” he said. “A new culture starts with new leadership that has a zero tolerance policy on corruption.”
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