Metro East Sun

Former Republican House candidate Mike Babcock is convinced the ethics reform bill now being advanced by Democrats is destined to fail.

“I don’t know if it’s genuine or not with this being an election year, but I know that as long as Mike Madigan is still running the show as House Speaker, no bill or package of them will be enough to clean things up,” he said. “Mike Madigan has to go before anything worth happening really can.”

With Madigan now at the center of a widening federal corruption probe involving utility giant ComEd and a pay-for-play scheme, a group of democratic lawmakers are now pushing a package of nine reform measures they insist will quickly lead to the kind of culture change in Springfield most agree is critically needed. Heading the list of proposals are measures that would ban legislators from becoming lobbyists, require greater financial disclosures, establish a censure process, make the legislative inspector general more independent, and institute term limits.

“It’s a good idea, but there have been a lot of them before and the truth is anything having to do with ethics probably won’t get past the speaker,” Babcock added. “I’d be shocked and surprised if the fate of this one was any different,” he said.

This isn’t the first time Babcock has taken Madigan to task since federal agents implicated him in the ComEd scandal. While Babcock has joined other GOP leaders in calling for him to step down, he’s always understood the chances of that happening were a major long shot.

“For him to step down is to relinquish power in uncovering all the bad deeds he’s ever done,” he said. “I think the reason he’s so intent on staying in power is so he can keep everyone from investigating him from within the system. I think he will hold on as long as he can because he knows it’s the last way to save himself.”