Prairie State Wire

Former Republican state House candidate Peter Breen argues the Illinois House speaker’s latest actions are to be expected.

“Mike Madigan has always been about self-preservation,” Breen told the Prairie State Wire. “I can’t see how anyone would be surprised this would be his response given the situation he now finds himself in.”

Citing rising infection rates, Illinois legislative leaders recently canceled the Veto Session scheduled to commence this month. Not long after that announcement, staffers from the Madigan’s office insisted in an email that they have the support of a strong majority of Democrat lawmakers.

Breen isn’t buying it.

“The reason there’s no session in Springfield is because Mike Madigan does not have the 60 votes he needs to be House speaker,” he said. “I’m sure the news of the indictment of one of his closest confidantes is something he’d rather not have to talk about as well.”

The state’s longest-tenured lawmaker, Madigan now finds himself at the center of an ongoing federal corruption probe involving ComEd and a pay-for-play scheme where all the perks were allegedly steered to him in exchange for favorable legislation. Just days ago, investigators announced four new indictments in the still unfolding case, including that of longtime Madigan associate and lobbyist Mike McClain.

Even if Madigan is shown the door, Breen argues that would only be half the battle.

“The issue for the people of Illinois is do you trust a group of Democratic legislators, most of whom owe their political lives to Madigan, to make the choice of who would be best to succeed him," he said. "Many of these House Democrats have shown they could be bought by a corrupt system and at this point Illinois should have zero patience for any sort of actions.”