SPRINGFIELD (WBBM NEWSRADIO) — Illinois Republicans were eager Tuesday evening to react to the guilty verdicts in the so-called “ComEd Four” trial.
“This guilty-on-all-charges verdict has proven what Republicans have already known,” House Minority Leader Tony McCombie (R-Savanna) said in a hastily called news conference at the Capitol Tuesday. “We need real ethics reform. Our system has allowed bad actors and political insiders to succeed at the expense of honest, hardworking Illinoisans.”
McCombie added: “This must not continue.”
State Rep. Ryan Spain (R-Peoria) said all one needs to do is look at House Republicans’ attempt to investigate then-Speaker Mike Madigan.
“What was the response from the Democratic legislators that participated in that investigating committee?” he asked. “Cover-up and sweeping the facts under the rug. Members of that investigating committee now serve as Speaker of the House, [and] now serve as the chairperson of the Democratic Party of the state of Illinois.”
Spain was referring to House Speaker Chris Welch (D-Hillside) and State Rep. Lisa Hernandez (D-Cicero).
In an e-mailed statement, Senate President Don Harmon (D-Oak Park) described the behavior revealed over the course of the trial as “shockingly gluttonous and unhealthy to democracy.”
“We’ve taken concrete steps to discourage bad behavior,” Harmon wrote. “But most importantly, I believe we have people committed to behaving better.”
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