SE Illinois News

State Rep. Patrick Windhorst (R-Metropolis) said although Madigan is gone and appears to be headed for jail after the conviction of the ComEd Four, the clean-up effort in the state capitol is still ongoing. 

Windhorst, the House Republican Floor Leader, served as Massac County State’s Attorney from 2004 to 2018. He is also the Ranking House Republican member on the House Judiciary Criminal Committee. 

“I followed this trial closely and was disturbed at the casual nature with which ComEd officials corruptly attempted to influence former Speaker Mike Madigan,” Windhorst said on Facebook. “Mike Madigan is gone, but the stain left by his decades of corruption remains because we have not taken appropriate action to clean up our ethics laws. I have long sponsored legislation that would prevent legislators from serving as lobbyists, stop the revolving door, and allow Illinois’ Legislative Inspector General the latitude it needs to issue subpoenas and stamp out corruption.” 

Windhorst’s comments come after come after former ComEd CEO Anne Pramaggiore and former ComEd lobbyist John Hooker along with Madigan’s right-hand man Michael McClain, and lobbyist Jay Doherty, who previously ran the City Club of Chicago, were convicted of scheming to pay $1.3 million to Madigan-connected people and companies. As part of the scheme, ComEd provided jobs – some of which were no show – and contracts to those with connections to Madigan who at the time controlled the Democratic Party and had wielded power as the state’s most powerful politician as the longest-serving state House Speaker in the nation. ComEd, the state’s largest utility, engaged in the scheme to influence Madigan in order to get preferential treatment in the state House. ComEd paid a $200 million fine in July 2020 and admitted to the scheme.

Amanda Schnitker Sayers, a juror in the ComEd Four trial, said former House Speaker Michael Madigan is responsible for the corruption to which ComEd employees and those connected to them succumbed, Chicago City Wire reported.

"We're tired of political corruption,” Sayers said after the verdict, according to The Center Square. "We're hoping this is a first step."  

Sayers said it was the ex-Speaker who "did cause this all to happen.” 

"We all agreed that lobbying is necessary ... this is not lobbying,” she added in response to the defense attorney's argument that the "ComEd Four" were legally lobbying.

The 81-year-old Madigan was in power as House Speaker from 1983 to 1995 and then from 1997 to 2021. He was an Illinois House member from 1971 to 2021 before stepping down amid the scandal. He is charged in a separate filing of 23 counts of public corruption related to the ComEd scandal and is facing a single count of public corruption from a similar scheme with AT&T. Madigan will go on trial in April 2024. Despite being under investigation, Madigan reportedly took part in the 2022 election campaign. Additionally, he transferred the last $10 million from his campaign budget to his defense fund.