Speaker Madigan And The Federal Investigation

According to the Associated Press: Gov. J.B. Pritzker says Illinois House Speaker Michael Madigan “must resign” if allegations of corruption are true against the fellow Democrat long considered the state’s most powerful lawmaker. A spokeswoman for Madigan denied wrongdoing. The U.S. Attorney’s office says electric utility ComEd has agreed to pay $200 million to resolve a federal criminal investigation into a long-running bribery scheme that implicates Madigan. Federal prosecutors announced Friday that ComEd had admitted that it arranged jobs and contracts for people connected to someone identified as “Public Official A.” A deferred prosecution agreement for ComEd filed in federal court states that “Public Official A” is the Illinois House speaker.

The 21st was joined by reporters following the story to break down the case and speak to what it could mean for one of the most powerful men in Illinois.

Guests:

Jon Seidel, Federal Courts Reporter for the Chicago Sun-Times and author of Second City Sinners: True Crime from Historic Chicago’s Deadly Streets

Tony Arnold, state politics reporter for WBEZ-FM in Chicago

Prepared for web by Zainab Qureshi

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