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 The U.S. attorney’s office in Chicago gave state lawmakers the
O.K. Sept. 14 to continue investigating the conduct of Illinois House Speaker
Michael Madigan regarding a bribery scheme involving Commonwealth Edison.
State Reps. Tom Demmer, R-Dixon, and Chris Welch, D-Chicago, spoke with federal
prosecutors to ask if the work by a special investigative committee would
interfere with the federal government’s ongoing investigation surrounding
Madigan, his allies and ComEd. The attorney’s office said there would be no
problems calling Madigan or other witnesses to testify.
But there was disagreement over how ComEd’s deal with prosecutors would limit
the committee. Democrats said it would restrict them a lot. Republicans said not
so much.
Welch, who chairs the committee, told the Chicago Tribune they were asked to
“refrain from seeking any materials or testimony related to the (ComEd deferred
prosecution agreement) that is still confidential or anything in the possession
of the federal government. In other words, we can call witnesses but we can’t
really ask them any questions.”
House Republicans offered this version of the conversation with the U.S.
Attorney’s office.
“There was no indication we have to stay within the parameters of the (deferred
prosecution agreement). There was no objection to asking witnesses to testify.
They didn’t want us asking for docs that a witness (mainly ComEd) would have
gotten from the Feds and were not included in the DPA. It was specific to the
DPA.”
The deferred prosecution agreement outlined how the utility gave Madigan’s
political cronies $1.3 million in jobs and contracts to gain his support for
regulatory legislation worth $150 million to ComEd. ComEd agreed to a $200
million fine and to cooperate with investigators.
House Minority Leader Jim Durkin, R-Western Springs, said during the first
committee hearing Sept. 11 he had already received clearance from the attorney’s
office when he initially brought the charges against Madigan to the committee.
The committee voted to check for themselves again.
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Durkin and his Republican colleagues submitted a
voluntary witness list to the committee that included Madigan, ComEd
executives, lobbyists and others implicated in the prosecution
agreement. Madigan has a choice whether to testify.
Welch said the next hearing will be set once the attorney’s office
submits a letter to the committee confirming the contents of the
call.
Lawmakers on the committee have agreed to follow the precedent of
the only other time in recent history a committee met to review the
behavior of a state lawmaker. That was Derrick Smith, who was
charged with bribery in 2012.
The hearings are not legal proceedings and cannot find Madigan to be
legally charged or guilty of any crime. However, they can recommend
discipline based on Madigan’s actions, which can include punishment
as high as removal from the House. Madigan called the committee a
“political stunt” and denied any wrongdoing.
State lawmakers from both parties and Democrats from across the
state have called for Madigan to immediately resign his positions as
House speaker and chairman of the Democratic Party of Illinois.
Others, such as Gov. J.B. Pritzker, have made a milder call for him
to resign if the allegations are true.
The Madigan corruption probe has complicated Pritzker’s appeal to
voters for his “fair tax” on the Nov. 3 ballot. Madigan is the fifth
key backer of a progressive tax to face corruption probes as voters
are being asked to trust lawmakers with greater power to impose new
taxes on retirees and hike taxes up to 47% on over 100,000 small
businesses that create most Illinois jobs.
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