PEORIA – Today, former Illinois House Speaker Michael Madigan was sentenced to 7.5 years in prison, 3 years probation, and a $2.5 million fine for his conviction on bribery and other corruption charges. Deputy House Minority Leader Ryan Spain (R-Peoria), the only remaining member of the Illinois House who filed the 2020 Special Investigating Committee Petition to look into Madigan’s links to ComEd, released the following statement:
“No amount of time behind bars can pay back the people of Illinois for the corruption that Mike Madigan poisoned our statehouse with over his decades in power, but he is finally going where he belongs. I hope Illinois’ Democrat leaders were watching today because if this doesn’t serve as a wake-up call to clean up the stain of corruption on Illinois government, I don’t know what will.
“The people of Illinois should not have to rely on federal prosecutors to clean up our mess. The time for honest, transparent government in the state of Illinois is now!”
Spain has been a leading voice calling for ethics reform in the General Assembly and has filed several pieces of legislation every session to tighten Illinois’ anti-corruption laws. Dating back to the 2020 Special Investigating Committee, Spain and House Republicans have demanded ethics reforms to clean up state government. However, as chairman of that investigating committee, now-Speaker Chris Welch shut down the investigation and ignored testimony that implicated Madigan in criminal behavior. He even called the committee a “sham” and a “political show trial.”
Now that Madigan’s conviction and sentence have been handed down, the only “sham” seems to be current Speaker Welch’s actions to protect his prison-bound former mentor.
For more information about Rep. Spain, visit RepRyanSpain.com.
