Lake County Gazette

Republican House candidate Jim Walsh struggles to understand how House Speaker Mike Madigan can justify dismissing all the voters that have empowered him for the last four decades.

“He owes it to them to show up and give an accounting for what’s happened on his watch,” Walsh told the Lake County Gazette. “He needs to go out and face the people and tell them they don’t matter. That’s what he’s saying by insisting he won’t show up for these meetings.”

Amid the backdrop of an ongoing ComEd federal corruption probe, Madigan recently let it be known he has no intention of answering questions about his suspected involvement before the bipartisan panel. The state’s longest-tenured lawmaker made his feelings clear in a three-page letter he sent to committee members in which he also forcefully defended his widely known practice of patronage hiring as not “ethically improper.”

Again, Walsh, running against incumbent state Rep. Sam Yingling (D-Grayslake) in the 62nd District, is at a loss to understand the rationale.

“Patronage doesn’t make the state better,” he said. “It’s only in the best interest of the people in power. I’m stunned that he would defend his actions by taking such a position; it shows that he’s morally bankrupt and needs to go away right away for the good of this state. All this does is make sure he has personal power at the highest levels that make it easier for him not to have to be responsible to the people.”

Through it all, Walsh said he was presently surprised to see Democrat state Rep. Stephanie Kifowit recently throw her hat in the ring to take on Madigan as House Speaker.

“It gives me hope that maybe even Democrats are growing tired of his act,” he said. “If I could, I would cast a vote for her. I think anything tops Madigan.”