Will County Gazette

Illinois State Rep. Mark Batinick (R-Plainfield) is calling for real ethics reform as former Speaker Mike Madigan's web of corruption continues to be exposed.

"Democrats in the General Assembly continue to rely on Madigan's playbook even as more corruption charges are filed against their former Speaker. Their refusal to enact meaningful reforms only further erodes public trust in state government. It's time for real change in Illinois to end the culture of corruption once and for all," Batinick wrote in an
Oct. 20 Facebook post.

House Republicans are urging Democrats, especially House Speaker Emanuel "Chris" Welch, to review the House Rules that were put in place by former Speaker Mike Madigan and are still being used, Advantage News reported. The rules enacted by Madigan reportedly put the power of controlling the flow of legislation in the speaker's hands. Madigan is now facing an additional corruption charge on top of his 22 charges from this spring for his involvement with AT&T. He pleaded not guilty to the 22 original charges.

AT&T Illinois has agreed to pay $23 million as part of a deferred prosecution agreement in the investigation of former House Speaker Mike Madigan's political operation, Yahoo! News reported. AT&T Illinois has admitted to attempting to influence Madigan to advance legislation in their interest by sending payments to one of his allies. The U.S. Attorney’s Office will drop the charges against AT&T in two years since the company admitted guilt.

“AT&T Illinois caused the payments to be made through an intermediary – a lobbying firm that performed services for AT&T Illinois – to conceal the true nature of the payments, which was to influence and reward Madigan’s efforts as Speaker to assist the company with respect to certain legislation,” federal prosecutors alleged, according to Advantage News. "Although the members of the conspiracy formulated a pretextual assignment for Madigan’s ally to disguise why the ally was being paid, the ally performed no actual work for AT&T Illinois and had no role in advancing the legislation."

Michael McClain, Madigan's ally, is accused of conspiring with Madigan to accept bribes from AT&T Illinois, Capitol News Illinois reported. Paul La Schiazza, the former AT&T Illinois president, is also accused of attempting to influence Madigan.

According to a release from the Department of Justice, former Illinois Speaker of the House Michael Madigan was indicted on March 2 for federal racketeering and bribery charges.

"The 22-count indictment accuses Madigan of leading for nearly a decade a criminal enterprise whose purpose was to enhance Madigan’s political power and financial well-being while also generating income for his political allies and associates," the release noted.

Madigan is facing charges of racketeering conspiracy, as well as individual counts of using interstate facilities to carry out bribery, wire fraud, and attempted extortion. The release notes that in addition to his role as Speaker of the House, Madigan has also held the positions of Representative of Illinois’s 22nd District, Committeeman for Chicago’s 13th Ward, Chairman of both the Illinois Democratic Party and the 13th Ward Democratic Organization, and partner at the Chicago law firm of Madigan & Getzendanner.

During the spring legislative session this year, Illinois Senate Republicans championed a package of bills that would have addressed ethics reform. SB 3636 would have empowered the Attorney General to utilize a statewide grand jury to investigate and prosecute public contractor misconduct. The legislation would have also amended Illinois' RICO law, giving wiretap authority to state’s attorneys investigating public corruption. Members of the General Assembly and their immediate families would also be prohibited from working as lobbyists while that person is a member of the legislature. SB 3030 would have given the Legislative Inspector General (LIG) the authority to issue subpoenas without prior permission from the Legislative Ethics Commission.