DeKalb Times

Dixon Mayor Liandro “Li” Arellano wonders how Illinois House Speaker Mike Madigan has resisted fate for so long.

“I think what we’re seeing right now is long past due,” Arellano told the DeKalb Times. “The power brokering of the kinds of illegal acts he’s been tied to are very serious crimes and I think people have had enough.”

The state’s longest-tenured lawmaker, federal prosecutors recently placed Madigan at the center of a still unfolding federal corruption probe involving ComEd in which investigators assert the company engaged in a “years-long bribery scheme” centered on 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 levying any charges, prosecutors contend Commonwealth Edison attempted to “influence and reward” Madigan by providing financial benefits to those directly tied to him.

Despite all the mounting scrutiny, Arellano said he doesn’t expect to see Madigan change much about his approach.

“He’s spent his whole life clinging to power,” he said. “Like many others, I think he needs to go right now, but I really don’t expect to see him walk away.

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

Arellano argues all of that should only be seen as the start in the fight to clean up Springfield.

“It’s going to take real ethics reform from new blood,” he said. “Most of the people in Springfield right now have shown they’re not really interested in that. As for voters, they need to start taking a hard look at who’s in power and start sending them packing based on the hole we’re in as a state.”

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.”