State Sen. Craig Wilcox | File photo
State Sen. Craig Wilcox | File photo
Veteran state Sen. Craig Wilcox (R-McHenry) has a theory about the federal corruption probe that longtime House Speaker Mike Madigan finds himself at the center of.
“Every time one of the other guys alleged to be involved in this goes down, it puts more pressure on Madigan and means the feds are getting closer,” Wilcox told the Lake County Gazette. “More indictments are still to come from this and I think at some point one of the people being indicted is not going to want to take the fall.”
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.
Wilcox said he now believes the only way for the level of ethics reforms needed to come to Springfield is for federal authorities to remain involved.
"Between now and Election Day in November, (Madigan) still controls more than $30 million he can use in the races,” Wilcox added. “So, not many Democrats are going to want to talk about any of this right now. It’ll be interesting to see if any of that changes based on how the races play out.”
Wilcox said he also plans to closely monitor the actions of a recently convened special House committee that will look into Madigan’s actions and determine if they warrant disciplinary action.
“I’ll be watching to see if any Democrats join in with any tough questions for the speaker,” he said. “He has a lot to answer for.”
Alerts Sign-up