Kane County Reporter

Republican state House candidate Ben Bierly can’t see Springfield ever changing as long as House Speaker Mike Madigan is still at the controls.

“I am not going to hold my breath,” Bierly told the Kane County Reporter. That's his summation, even after leaders in Springfield convened a bipartisan special House committee to look into Madigan's conduct and determine if it warrants disciplinary action.

“The fact that both parties chose three representatives and it takes a majority vote to move the process ahead tells me we can expect a deadlock at the very best,” he added. “I may be pleasantly surprised, but I highly doubt it.”

In a year in which four Springfield Democrats have been indicted on corruption related charges, the committee was formed at the insistence of House Minority Leader Jim Durkin after Madigan was implicated in an ongoing federal probe involving utility giant ComEd and a pay-for-play scheme.

The six-member bipartisan committee is made up of three GOP lawmakers (state Reps. Tom Demmer of Dixon, Deanne Mazzochi of Elmhurst and Grant Wehrli of Naperville) and three Democrats (state Reps. Emanuel “Chris” Welch of Hillside, Elizabeth Hernandez of Cicero and Natalie Manley of Joliet). A majority vote is needed for the probe to proceed to the next stage – a new committee empowered to determine potential sanctions that would then be voted on by the entire House. A two-thirds majority would be required for any discipline to be taken against Madigan, which could include expulsion.

Now running against Democrat John Connor in the 43rd District, Bierly leaves no doubt about what he thinks needs to happen next.

“If we dispense with the ‘everyone is presumed innocent until proven guilty’ trope, we can get down to the meat of the question,” he said. “We need one of two possible courses to take place. Either we need the federal government to step in and arrest Madigan, or we need a Republican majority in both the House and the Senate.”

Bierly acknowledges none of that will come easily, as he doubts House Democrats will finally stand up to him.

“Madigan is clearly too entrenched to count on the Democrat majority to actually hold him accountable,” he added. “The money trail shows that every Democrat in the House owes some allegiance to him personally. The fact that only two lawmakers stood up to Gov. (J.B.) Pritzker’s unconstitutional mandates for the coronavirus tells me we are not likely to see the Republicans make a very strong stand against Madigan as well.”