Sangamon Sun

In some ways, state Sen. Steve McClure (R-Springfield) views the ongoing federal corruption inquiry that longtime House Speaker Mike Madigan now finds himself at the center of as an indictment against all of Springfield.

“I think that it’s painfully obvious that the General Assembly must address ethics reform,” McClure told the Sangamon Sun. “We need real reform and we need to get to work on it now.”

As for Madigan, McClure is striking a similar tune to the one being sounded by a growing number of other Republican lawmakers.

“I think he needs to step aside as speaker at least until all this has concluded,” he said. “Then, if the allegations are proven to be right he needs to go from the House completely.”

Madigan, who easily reigns as the longest-tenured lawmaker in the state, now finds himself at the center of a still-evolving probe into ComEd, in which prosecutors are on record in asserting that the company engaged in a “years-long bribery scheme” involving 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.

“This state is inundated with politicians getting into really unethical behavior and situations,” McClure added. “Right now, we have a member of state senate indicted, another one who just resigned because of conviction directly related to the job, and a member of the House indicted, with all of it happening within the last year.”

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.”

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.”