Will County Gazette

Republican state House candidate Rick Laib wonders if donors have always gotten what they paid for with their support of House Speaker Mike Madigan.

“Donors have gotten in line to give to funds to organizations Speaker Madigan chairs and what have we yielded, an absence of transparency, an absence of accountability and an absence of prosperity in Illinois,” Laib told the Will County Gazette. “We should not be discouraged by the donations; we should be discouraged that the donors do not demand better of their elected officials or simply don't know what better candidates look like.

Even as Madigan now stands at the center of a federal corruption probe involving ComEd and a pay-for-play scandal, Laib doesn’t seem too surprised that he was recently able to raise in the neighborhood of $555,000 in a single day for his campaign war chest. As chair of at least four political groups, Madigan is now reported to have nearly $23 million in his political coffers, at least partly accounting for the informal title he holds in the eyes of many as the most powerful man in state politics. 

Several media outlets have reported at least some of that vast political fortune has gone to him legally defending himself and his organization, including a sexual harassment allegation that was ultimately settled.

While state Rep. Deanne Mazzochi (R-Elmhurst) has filed a bill that would ban politicians from using campaign funds to pay legal bills for corruption cases, Laib argues real change must come from voters putting their trust behind better candidates.

"We need not restrict the use of campaign funds to pay legal bills,” he said. “If we restrict the use of funds to pay legal bills, opposing parties will simply use this as a tactic to drain other resources of candidates. Again, we must demand better candidates who will better represent us and be better stewards of their office.”