Metro East Sun

Republican activist Mike Babcock wants to know what House Speaker Mike Madigan feels he has to hide.

“If he didn’t feel that way, why would he be so strongly turning down a chance to speak and give his side of the story?” Babcock told the Metro East Sun. “Mike Madigan needs to step up and give an accounting because the people really want answers.”

With a bipartisan Special House committee now convened to look into some of the speaker’s more questionable behavior related to the ongoing ComEd federal corruption probe, Madigan recently let it be known he has no intention of answering questions about his suspected involvement before the bipartisan panel. The state’s longest-tenured lawmaker made his feelings clear in a three-page letter he sent to committee members in which he also forcefully defended his widely known practice of patronage hiring as not “ethically improper.”

“None of it makes sense to anyone,” added Babcock, who formerly ran for state representative in the 111th District. “And the patronage talk is beyond absurd. Everyone knows that’s wrong and bad for the system. It's part of the reason the state is as depressed as it is.  No one else in Illinois can say something like that and get away with it. It tells you a lot that he thinks he can.”

In the end, Babcock said it’s the price Illinois pays for Madigan being in power for as long as he has.

“Maybe he thinks he’s earned it because he’s been around 47 years now,” he said. “His being there that long is like a 47-year joke on the state. You can’t just change the rules for you anytime you like.”