Dupage Policy Journal

Republican state Rep. Deanne Mazzochi (R-Elmhurst) didn’t try to hide her outrage after a Special House committee convened to look into the conduct of House Speaker Mike Madigan abruptly adjourned with just one witness being called and no subpoenas issued.

“They already had their verdict and it’s clear they were not going to allow Mike Madigan to be questioned under oath about any of this under any circumstances,” Mazzochi told the DuPage Policy Journal. “If you look at this pattern and practice, you see why Illinois is mired in the corruption that it is and why our reputation is as bad as it is. They did a real disservice to the people of Illinois.”

Members of the six-person bipartisan committee convened spent most of the time in the first gathering they’d engaged in since September sparing over process before arriving at a deadlocked vote that played out completely along party lines. The state’s longest-tenured lawmaker, Madigan still finds himself at the center of an ongoing federal corruption probe involving ComEd and a pay-for-play scheme where all the perks were allegedly steered to him in exchange for favorable legislation.

While chair Rep. Emanuel “Chris” Welch (D-Hillside) blasted the hearing as a “political show trial” and a “sham,” Mazzochi countered Democrats were clearly willing to go to any lengths to protect the longtime House speaker and state Democratic Party chairman.

“From the very beginning they were there to protect him,” she added. “I think I’m most worried that these three Democrats saw documentary evidence and still decided that this is how business should be when it comes to the General Assembly. You have to wonder at what point does Springfield want us to stop being a national laughingstock.”