Lake County Gazette

Illinois State Sen. Craig Wilcox (R-McHenry) recently voiced his opinion on the recent indictment of former Illinois Speaker of the House Michael Madigan.

Wilcox said he is convinced Madigan won't be the last Democratic lawmaker ensnared in the ongoing federal corruption probe now hitting Springfield.

"The most telling thing to me was the U.S. Attorney saying he was boss of criminal enterprise, which means they are targeting more than just the two charged," Wilcox told Lake County Gazette. "I believe every democrat that has gotten money from Madigan has a choice to make now, either become a witness or face the scrutiny that's still to come."

On March 2, Madigan was indicted for federal racketeering and bribery charges. Madigan is facing charges of racketeering conspiracy, as well as individual counts of using interstate facilities to carry out bribery, wire fraud and attempted extortion.

"The 22-count indictment accuses Madigan of leading for nearly a decade a criminal enterprise whose purpose was to enhance Madigan’s political power and financial well-being while also generating income for his political allies and associates," according to a release from the Department of Justice.

The release notes that in addition to his role as speaker of the House, Madigan has also held the positions of Representative of Illinois’s 22nd District, committeeman for Chicago’s 13th Ward, chairman of both the Illinois Democratic Party and the 13th Ward Democratic Organization, and partner at the Chicago law firm of Madigan & Getzendanner.

Illinois legislators passed an ethics reform bill last year, which Gov. J.B. Pritzker signed in October, according to Illinois Policy. The legislative inspector general at the time, Carol Pope, announced her resignation in response to the "ethics reform" bill.

ABC reported that in her letter of resignation, Pope called the office of LIG a "paper tiger" and stated that the so-called ethics reform bill did not go far enough, and actually tied her hands more than they had been before. 

"I'm thinking that the legislature knows the limitations of the power of the LIG and that they want it that way," Pope told ABC. "That's why I said I am a paper tiger. There are no real teeth to this legislation the way it is now."

Wilcox said he agrees with Pope that the ethics reform bill did not go far enough.

"We had other proposals to go further," Wilcox told Lake County Gazette. "For one, we never gave full authority to the LIG to be able to do their job. The last LIG left us a memo telling us the things the person in that chair needs to be able to do in order to do their job effectively and we still haven’t gone far enough to make it happen."

The state Senator also said he believes that the office of the legislative inspector general did not have adequate power to fight corruption. 

"Absolutely not and I don't think Democrats have learned their lesson," Wilcox told Lake County Gazette. "While I don’t think many go into office planning to commit fraud, the system just makes it so easy for them."