A newly formed Illinois House committee will launch an investigation of powerful Democratic Speaker Michael Madigan’s actions in light of an agreement between federal prosecutors and Commonwealth Edison that alleged the utility engaged in a “yearslong bribery scheme” aimed at currying favor with Madigan.
House Republicans requested the creation of the special investigating committee, which is tasked with determining whether there are grounds for disciplining Madigan.
“Given the facts admitted by ComEd for its nine-year-long scheme to bribe Speaker Madigan, the Illinois House of Representatives must do its job and conduct a thorough investigation,” House Republican Leader Jim Durkin said in a statement.
A federal criminal complaint made public in July accused ComEd of seeking to “influence and reward” Madigan, the nation’s longest-serving speaker and the Illinois Democratic Party chairman, by providing benefits including contracts, jobs and payments to people close to him.
As part of a deferred prosecution agreement, ComEd agreed to pay a $200 million fine.
Madigan has not been charged with any wrongdoing. In a lengthy statement issued Wednesday, before the GOP request for the investigative committee was made public, he again denied making legislative decisions “with improper motives.”
The speaker called the request for the special investigative committee a “political stunt” by Republicans seeking to draw focus away from the presidential election.
“The law does not prohibit members of the General Assembly from making job recommendations,” Madigan said Wednesday. “If Rep. Durkin wants to question whether legislators should be allowed to make job recommendations, I encourage him to be transparent and disclose all of the jobs he has requested or lobbyists he has recommended over the years.”
First-term Democratic Gov. J.B. Pritzker, who repeatedly has said Madigan should answer questions raised by prosecutors’ allegations, said Wednesday that “perhaps the creation of this legislative committee will actually get some of those answers.”
Asked about Madigan’s contention that the committee represents a political stunt, Pritzker, speaking at an unrelated news conference, said, “That’s his opinion. I want to hear the answers.”
Several Democratic lawmakers have called for Madigan to step down from his seat and from his post as chairman of the state Democratic Party since the ComEd deal was unveiled. Madigan has said he has no plans to resign.
The petition requesting the creation of the special investigative committee was filed by Durkin and two other House GOP members and was delivered to Madigan’s Springfield office on Monday, the speaker said in his statement.
Madigan “immediately recused himself from consideration of this matter,” and designated House Majority Leader Greg Harris to handle it, Harris said in a statement.
House members have the authority to review the actions of colleagues and “determine whether discipline is necessary, including overturning the results of an election or expelling a member,” Harris said in a statement, calling it a “power that should be judiciously exercised.”
ComEd’s deal with prosecutors concluded that the utility benefited by at least $150 million from state lawmakers’ approval of the Energy Infrastructure and Modernization Act in 2011 and the Future Energy Jobs Act in 2016.
Madigan in his statement Wednesday called the idea that the General Assembly’s approval of those bills was connected to any job hires is “seriously mistaken.”
“Those bills had the broad support of Democrats and Republican members, other legislative leaders, labor supporters, consumer advocates, and environmentalists,” Madigan said. He added that Durkin should “disclose the various actions he personally took to pass the energy bills.”
The U.S. attorney’s office has been advised of the forthcoming legislative process, and Durkin’s office said in a statement Wednesday his intention is “not to interfere in any way with the federal investigation.”
Harris appointed Democratic state Rep. Emanuel “Chris” Welch as the chair of the committee, and Democratic Reps. Elizabeth Hernandez and Natalie Manley as members. They will serve alongside Republican state Reps. Tom Demmer, Deanne Mazzochi and Grant Wehrli.
The six-member committee is tasked with determining whether “reasonable grounds exist to authorize charges against the member named in the petition that may result in disciplinary action by the House.”
It would require a majority vote by the committee to authorize a charge, according to House rules, meaning at least one Democrat would need to take that position.
A special investigative committee was convened in the House last year after ex-state Rep. Luis Arroyo, a Democrat, was charged with one count of federal program bribery.
Arroyo resigned before the committee could hold its first meeting, however.
In 2012, the House voted 100-6 to expel then-Rep. Derrick Smith of Chicago after he was indicted on charges he accepted a $7,000 bribe, the first time in more than a century the chamber moved to oust a member.
Smith remained on the ballot that year and won reelection. When Smith was awaiting his criminal trial, Madigan supported his bid for another term in the March 2014 primary, but he lost, and was automatically removed from office when he was convicted of bribery and extortion later that year. He was sentenced to five months in prison.
