State Representative Norine Hammond issued the following statement in response to Wednesday’s federal indictment against former Illinois House Speaker Michael J. Madigan for racketeering, bribery, extortion and public corruption.
“Today’s indictment of Speaker Madigan is long overdue,” Hammond said. “Over the course of nearly four decades in power, Speaker Madigan ruled Illinois with an iron fist. Worse, today’s federal charges indicate that Madigan abused the power of his office to reward his political allies, extort various interests, and threaten political and legislative action against those who did not do his bidding. While Speaker Madigan may be gone from public office, the absolute power and corrupt practices he and his insiders used to control the levers of government still exist. Much more must be done to clean up political corruption in Illinois. I hope the Democratic majority will finally work with us to pass real ethics reforms, including empowering the Legislative Inspector General, to put an end to the corruption in Springfield and restore the public’s trust in our state government.”