Dupage Policy Journal

Illinois state Rep. Grant Wehrli (R-Naperville) is casting suspicion on a number of labor unions recently moving to make maximum contributions to the war chest of embattled House Speaker Mike Madigan (D-Chicago).

“Madigan Inc. at work,” Wehrli recently posted on Twitter, amid rumors that Madigan has pocketed at least $1 million in political donations over the last week. “Question is, how much of this is for campaigns and how much for mounting legal costs?”

Several media outlets have reported that federal investigators are asking increasingly direct questions about Madigan's knowledge of or potential involvement in several political corruption scandals unfolding in Springfield. According to the Chicago Tribune, as many as four different individuals have confirmed they were asked about the state’s longest serving lawmaker's involvement in lobbying at Commonwealth Edison, employment contracts and other perks being doled out to associates of the Democratic Party chairman.

Illinois state Rep. Grant Wehrli (R-Naperville)

Meanwhile, WBEZ reported that Madigan was named in a federal subpoena recently served on City Club, a prominent Chicago public affairs organization with longstanding political hiring and contracting ties with ComEd. As part of a coordinated action, federal agents also executed a search warrant on ComEd’s downtown Michigan Avenue office, with Madigan’s name reportedly being among the 20 or so that were listed in the document.

Sources told WBEZ that the raid stemmed from allegations that ComEd is widely known to be in the business of hiring politically connected individuals in consulting jobs in exchange for favorable government actions such as rate increases. As agents were raining down on City Club, investigators were also targeting the home of longtime Madigan political associate Michael Zalewski.

For his part, Wehrli has left little doubt about where he stands when it comes to Madigan.

“Speaker Madigan Inc. is rotten to the core,” Wehrli previously posted on Twitter. “Who would want to have anything to do with him or his associates? Illinois can only be saved by first rooting out all the corruption, graft and ghost-payrolling. Only then can we address the systemic failures of state government.”