North Egypt News

In Franklin County Republican activist Karen Tucker’s mind, federal investigators now moving to implicate longtime House Speaker Mike Madigan in an ongoing corruption investigation are about four decades too late. 

“He’s been corrupt for as long as he’s been in power,” Tucker told the North Egypt News. “I think he should step down immediately; you’ve even got Gov. (J.B.) Pritzker seeming to lean in that direction.”

Madigan, who easily reigns as the longest-tenured lawmaker in the state, now finds himself at the center of a still-evolving probe into ComEd, in which prosecutors are on record in asserting 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 of the Illinois Democratic Party.

While stopping short of formally hitting him with any charges, prosecutors contend Commonwealth Edison attempted to “influence and reward” Madigan by providing financial benefits to those directly tied to him.

Tucker said she’s convinced the corruption runs far deeper than Madigan alone.

“I suspect that whole system is corrupt,” she said. “I really don’t think Mike Madigan pulls all these shenanigans all by himself. I think there’s a lot of backroom dealing going on.”

In publicly announcing the case against ComEd public, U.S. Attorney John Lausch noted the investigation is ongoing. Tthe Chicago Tribune reports federal investigators have moved to subpoena Madigan for information, including “possible job recommendations.”

In a statement, a spokesperson for Madigan said he plans to cooperate with the probe, adding “The speaker has never helped someone find a job with the expectation that the person would not be asked to perform work by their employer, nor did he ever expect to provide anything to a prospective employer if it should choose to hire a person he recommended.”