This morning, federal prosecutors implicated Illinois House Speaker Michael Madigan in a calculated, long-running bribery scheme that involved ComEd and payouts to Madigan cronies of over $1.3 million. According to the US Attorney’s office, ComEd will pay $200 Million to end the federal investigation.
Jeanne Ives, a former Illinois state legislator and candidate for Congress (IL-06) released the following statement: “The truth is rate-payers will pay $200 MILLION in corruption charges. ComEd’s rates were set in Madigan’s General Assembly. And paid by the people of Illinois. Nothing is passed in Springfield without Madigan’s approval. I know this first-hand. In 2011, ComEd received an estimated $20 billion in rate hikes. Then in 2016, Exelon, parent company of ComEd, received a bailout of $2.4B bailout even though the company had posted $2.25 billion in profits the previous year. Rinse and repeat. … I voted against the ComEd / Exelon bailout bill and I publicly spoke out against it as a state legislator. The corruption that Madigan has sewn into the very fiber of Illinois Government is dependent on the silence and complicity of those in his own party."
Ives took aim at her opponent, Congressman Sean Casten, noting:
“Lobbyist turned Congressman, Sean Casten knows this game. Given his own ties to the Energy industry, his history of lobbying for and receiving massive government subsidies, and his recent push for an estimated $16 Trillion Energy Deal, he needs to speak out today. Casten’s consistent refusal to condemn the leaders of his own state party is unacceptable at this point. His constituents have been forced to pay the price of his party’s corruption. Sean Casten’s continued silence shows his disrespect for and disinterest in the impact government has on the lives of those he represents. We can either have leaders who protect against corruption and abuse or we can have leaders who protect corruption and abusers.”
