Metro East Sun

Conservative activist Mike Babcock wonders what House Speaker Mike Madigan and Democrats in Springfield may have to hide.

“It sounds like running to the hills to me,” Babcock told the Metro East Sun soon after leading Illinois legislators – citing concerns about lingering COVID-19 infections and a current outbreak – made the decision to cancel the fall veto session slated for this month.

Babcock, who formerly ran as a Republican for state representative in the 111th District, suspects that more may have gone into the decision than some are letting on.

“I think (House Speaker Mike Madigan) feels he may find himself in an even bigger predicament,” Babcock added, “He doesn’t want to answer any questions about anything, just see everything go away.”

The state’s longest-tenured lawmaker, Madigan now finds himself at the center of a still unfolding federal corruption probe involving ComEd and a pay-for-play scandal where the profits were purportedly steered to him in exchange for favorable legislation. Babcock has long been a staunch critic of the governor’s handling of the virus and has chastised lawmakers in Springfield for not demanding to have a greater voice and be more loudly heard on the issue.

“I don’t know what all of his reasoning is, but he definitely seems to want to put so-called nonessential businesses out of business,” he said. “We need other elected officials to stand up because it's not right and we need to be putting pressure on the governor.”

The new session was slated to commence on Nov. 17 for the first day of a scheduled six-day session. The next General Assembly is due to be inaugurated Jan. 13.