State Rep. Tony McCombie (R-Savanna) | repmccombie.com
State Rep. Tony McCombie (R-Savanna) | repmccombie.com
House Minority Leader Tony McCombie (R-Savannah) has been vocal about corruption in Springfield following the conviction of the ComEd Four.
McCombie expressed the "trial has been a costly seven-week reminder of just what is wrong in state government."
“This guilty verdict has proven that the system of doing business in Springfield is broken,” McCombie said in a press release. “This should not have been the first step to rooting out corruption in Illinois, but after today, it is clear there must be a sense of urgency in bringing back the people’s trust in state government.”
McCombie’s comments come after former ComEd CEO Anne Pramaggiore and former ComEd lobbyist John Hooker along with Madigan associate Michael McClain and lobbyist Jay Doherty, who previously ran the City Club of Chicago, were convicted of scheming to pay $1.3 million to Madigan-connected people and companies. As part of the scheme, ComEd provided jobs – some of which were no-show – and contracts to those with connections to Madigan who at the time controlled the Democratic Party and had wielded power as the state’s most powerful politician as the longest-serving state House Speaker in the nation. ComEd, the state’s largest utility, engaged in the scheme to influence Madigan to get preferential treatment in the state House. ComEd paid a $200 million fine in July 2020 and admitted to the scheme.
The 81-year-old Madigan was in power as House Speaker from 1983 to 1995 and then from 1997 to 2021. He was an Illinois House member from 1971 to 2021 before stepping down amid the scandal. He is charged in a separate filing of 23 counts of public corruption related to the ComEd scandal and is facing a single count of public corruption from a similar scheme with AT&T. Madigan will go on trial in April 2024.
Despite being under investigation, Madigan reportedly took part in the 2022 election campaign. Additionally, he transferred the last $10 million from his campaign budget to his defense fund.
The criticism of corruption against state Democrats comes just after former State Sen. Tom Cullerton was spotted working in Springfield as a lobbyist after serving jail time for taking such a position from the Teamsters.
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