Dupage Policy Journal

Republican Congressional candidate Jeanne Ives is calling out U.S. Rep. Sean Casten over his continued silence in the wake of longtime state Sen. Terry Link recently becoming the third high-ranking Democrat official over the last year to be implicated in a criminal inquiry.

“Standing up to corruption is standing up for the taxpayer,” Ives said. “And we are hard-pressed to find an organization more corrupt than the Illinois Democrat Machine. Sean Casten, however, refuses to call for reforms to his party, or even to denounce Mike Madigan, Terry Link or other corrupt leaders.”

Charged by the U.S. Attorney for the Northern District, Link faces tax evasion allegations and has already reached a plea bargain with federal authorities that includes a promise to cooperate with a string of ongoing corruption probes.

Just before formal charges were announced against Link, federal authorities implicated longtime House Speaker Madigan in a corruption investigation involving utility giant ComEd and a pay-for-play scheme in which associates of Madigan received financial benefits in order to curry favor with him. 

“The Democratic Party of Illinois’ corruption is indefensible,” Ives added. “It is hurting the people of this district in a real way. And once again, Sean Casten says nothing. As a state legislator, I stood up to both parties against tax hikes, unbalanced budgets and crony bailouts. I am running for Congress because Illinoisans have had enough of politicians like Sean Casten who protect their parties over the pocketbooks of the taxpayers they represent.”

According to a recent Illinois Policy Institute study, over a 17-year period ending in 2017 Illinois’ public corruption convictions came at a cost in the neighborhood of $550 million every year.

“Corruption not only impacts residents’ faith in government, it decreases economic growth and disincentivizes investments in the state,” Ives added.