Will County Gazette

Republican Congressional candidate Rick Laib is hoping for transparency as a special Illinois House committee prepares to decide if actions House Speaker Mike Madigan is accused of should result in disciplinary actions up to his expulsion.

“Speaker Madigan will receive the discipline he deserves, most likely, when greater transparency in the process is demanded,” Laib told the Will County Gazette. “Most of what has happened has out of the public eye. Maintaining that the process stays publicly transparent will help.”

In a year in which four Springfield Democrats have been indicted on corruption related charges, the committee was formed at the insistence of House Minority Leader Jim Durkin after Madigan was implicated in an ongoing federal probe involving utility giant ComEd and a pay-for-play scheme.   

The six-member bipartisan committee is made up of three GOP lawmakers (state Reps. Tom Demmer of Dixon, Deanne Mazzochi of Elmhurst and Grant Wehrli of Naperville) and three Democrats (state Reps. Emanuel “Chris” Welch of Hillside, Elizabeth Hernandez of Cicero and Natalie Manley of Joliet). A majority vote is needed for the probe to proceed to the next stage – a new committee empowered to determine potential sanctions that would then be voted on by the entire House. A two-thirds majority would be required for any discipline to be taken against Madigan, which could include expulsion.

Running against state Rep. Bill Foster (D-Illinois) in the 11th District, Laib admits that figures to be a tall task.

“We know that just last year a similar board found substantial evidence to move forward in a similar process with an elected Democrat, so to say at this point that nothing will come of the committee's actions is simply not fair,” he said. “However, in the previous case the elected official was not the success-maker or financial provider that Speaker Madigan is for his party's members. I think it would be fair to say that many members have allowed themselves to be put in positions where it will be difficult to think objectively about the evidence.”