ComEd Executives Will Kick Off Special Hearing Into Springfield Bribery Scandal

By Dan Mihalopoulos, Tony Arnold

Thursday, Sept. 24, 8:30 a.m. CT

A special Illinois House committee’s hearings next week on the Springfield bribery scandal should begin with testimony from executives of Commonwealth Edison, the company at the center of the federal corruption probe, WBEZ has learned.

In a letter Thursday to the Democratic lawmaker heading the legislative inquiry, House Republican Leader Jim Durkin of Western Springs said he or his lawyer, the former federal prosecutor Ron Safer, “will be questioning” the ComEd executives at the special panel’s meeting on Tuesday.

The House GOP pushed for the special committee’s inquiry after ComEd admitted in federal court in July that it engaged in an eight-year bribery scheme. According to court records, the company paid politically connected consultants who did little or no work in order to win favor with “Public Official A” – a clear reference to Democratic House Speaker Michael Madigan.

Madigan has not been charged and denies wrongdoing, but his aides say he has recused himself from the special committee. State Rep. Emanuel “Chris” Welch, D-Hillside, is the chairman of the six-member panel, which also includes two other Democratic lawmakers and three Republicans.

Since the formation of the panel, Democrats and Republicans on the committee have gone back and forth over who should be allowed to testify – and what kind of questions they can answer – in light of the ongoing federal criminal probe. The hearings could reveal potentially embarrassing information about Madigan, who is also the state’s Democratic Party Chair, just weeks before the Nov. 3 elections.

https://www.wbez.org/stories/comed-executives-will-kick-off-special-hearing-into-springfield-bribery-scandal/0421b0f1-af23-4d84-a0ac-f906d969a5b6