South Cook News

Republican state House candidate Eric Wallace insists he can feel the walls starting to close in around House Speaker Mike Madigan.

“It’s not surprising that federal investigators are coming back with more and more evidence about what’s been going bad in Springfield,” Wallace told the South Cook News. “Everybody has thought for a while that Madigan was dirty and now here we have this to add to the history.”

Federal authorities recently moved to charge Fidel Marquez, who formerly served as vice president of governmental affairs, with bribery and conspiracy stemming from his alleged part in a pay-for-play scheme in which indictments say jobs, contracts and payments were steered to associates known to be close to Madigan in exchange for his support on certain legislation.

Earlier this summer, federal investigators also announced that the utility giant had been charged with a years-long bribery scheme where at least $1.3 million in perks were steered to Madigan associates. At the same time, Madigan’s office was served with a grand jury subpoena seeking more information about their dealings with such companies as at AT&T, Walgreens and Rush University Medical Center.

“The truth is, we’ve got to get rid of Madigan,” added Wallace, who is running in the 40th District against Democrat Patrick Joyce. “It won’t be easy because he’s the most powerful man in Illinois, in charge of both the Democratic Party and the state legislature. I think having the feds come in the way they have now is the only way to get the job done.”  

Wallace said he doubts if even the creation of a new bipartisan special committee charged with looking into Madigan’s conduct and determining if it warrants discipline will be enough.

“In the end, Madigan still runs everything,” he said. “I’ll let it play out, but if I was a betting man I’d bet money it won’t work.”