Lake County Gazette

Rep. Chris Bos (R-Lake Zurich) voiced his feelings about former Illinois Speaker of the House Michael Madigan’s federal indictment on racketeering charges.

“Time and time again, we’ve seen where indictments have come close but never came through for one reason or another,” Bos said. “This has been  a long time coming and this moment is long overdue.”

A March 2 release from the Illinois DOJ said that “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.”

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 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.

“The conduct alleged in this indictment is deplorable and a stark violation of the public’s trust,” Gov. J.B.Pritzker said in a statement.

Illinois legislators passed an ethics reform bill last year which Pritzker signed in October, but Bos doesn't think it goes far enough.

"House Republicans have offered quite a few bills so that we don’t have the same person that’s an elected official who can also be Speaker of House and party chair committeemen," Bos said.  "There’s always talk of ethic reforms, but when reality hits there seems to be an unwillingness on the other side to get the job done."

The Legislative Inspector General at the time, Carol Pope, announced her resignation in response to the bill.

Heart of Illinois ABC reported that in her letter of resignation, Pope called the office of LIG a “paper tiger” and stated that the ethics reform bill did not go far enough, and 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.”

Bos has similar feelings.

"There was a reason why the last LIG left the post the way she did," Bos said. "She said the package that was put forth tied her hands. We need to give that office more power so we can rub out all the corruption that has plagued Springfield once and for all."  

Illinois has a history of corruption in high places. Former Gov. Rod Blagojevich was impeached and convicted of multiple corruption charges. He served nearly eight years in prison. Former Gov. George Ryan was convicted of racketeering and served five years in prison. Former U.S. Rep. Dan Rostenkowski was  convicted of corruption and served 17 months in prison.