Sangamon Sun

State Sen. Steve McClure (R-Springfield) insists he can already see the big picture in the ongoing federal corruption probe involving ComEd that finds House Speaker Mike Madigan at its center.

“Who knows where this will all lead, but you can already tell something is amiss here,” McClure told the Sangamon Sun. “It’s all very troubling and just a matter of us getting to the particulars.”

Federal authorities recently moved to charge Fidel Marquez, who formerly served as vice president of governmental affairs, with bribery and conspiracy stemming from his alleged part in a pay-for-play scheme in which indictments say jobs, contracts and payments were steered to associates known to be close to Madigan in exchange for his support on certain legislation.

Earlier this summer, federal investigators also announced that the utility giant had been charged with a years-long bribery scheme where at least $1.3 million in perks were steered to Madigan associates. At the same time, Madigan’s office was served with a grand jury subpoena seeking more information about their dealings with such companies as at AT&T, Walgreens and Rush University Medical Center.

“This thing was already close to Madigan before any of this,” McClure added. “He’s already been named in court proceedings as the public official in documents. Plus, his office has already received subpoenas. Right now, it’s just wait and see.”

McClure said he’s glad federal authorities have elected to become involved the way they have.

“Any time people commit these kinds of crimes, the government has to send a strong message to make people realize it’s not acceptable,” he said. “Their cracking down is an essential part of stopping people from being criminal.”

McClure said he thinks the recent formation of a bipartisan special House committee to look into some of Madigan’s most suspect behavior and decide if disciplinary actions are warranted is a good idea, though he questions how much the group can really get done.

“Their hands are tied in that no one wants to interrupt the federal investigation,” he said. “We’ll see how much they can get done without interfering.”