State Rep. Deanne Mazzochi (R-Elmhurst) is convinced House Speaker Mike Madigan’s apprehension about seeing lawmakers reconvene in Springfield comes down to a matter of survival.
“I suspect, but don’t know, that it is because he cannot get the 60 votes he needed to get to speaker,” Mazzochi told the DuPage Policy Journal.
Citing rising COVID-19 infection rates, Illinois legislative leaders recently made the call the call to cancel this month’s fall Veto Session. Since then, associates from Madigan’s office have claimed to have the backing of a “strong majority” of House Democrats supporting the cancellation move in light of the circumstances.
Meanwhile, Mazzochi, who knocked off Democrat Jim Caffrey earlier this month with 52% of the vote to earn a second term, is among a growing list of Republican lawmakers who think Madigan’s time has come and gone. The state’s longest-serving lawmaker, he now finds himself at the center of an ongoing federal corruption probe involving ComEd and a pay-for-play scheme where are the perks are alleged to have been steered to him in exchange for favorable legislation.
“Why should Madigan be allowed to do what no one else can?” she asked soon after proposing House Bill 4481, which “prohibits a political committee from making expenses to provide a defense in a criminal case or a civil case related to official misconduct.”
She later added: “This bill was actually drafted when there was concern about the speaker using funds to pay for legal counsel when members of his organization were hit with sexual assault allegations. It goes to show another area where privileged insiders get to use political power to get perks others don’t have.”
Mazzochi has also previously called on Gov. J.B. Pritzker to bring the legislature back into session, where she planned to sponsor a no-confidence vote on Madigan.
“We need to get back to work in Springfield,” Mazzochi said. “Right now, what is sad is we’re having to see federal criminal investigations to clean up Springfield. At some point, the hardworking, patient silent majority that says they hate corruption has to stand up and be silent no more. It’s past time to say, 'Take a hike, Mike.’”
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