Illinois Republican Party Chairman Don Tracy, Republican Leader Jim Durkin and Deputy Republican Leader Tom Demmer Excoriate Speaker Welch, Chairwoman Hernandez over Madigan “Show Trial”

Indicted former Speaker of the Illinois House Mike Madigan’s latest corruption charges involving AT&T amplify just how complicit current Illinois House Speaker Chris Welch and Democratic Party of Illinois Chair and State Representative Lisa Hernandez – both major recipients of Madigan Money – were in allowing corruption to run without restrictions in the Democratic party. 

 “Speaker Welch and Chairwoman Hernandez abdicated their responsibility to the people of Illinois to cover for Mike Madigan and were rewarded for their loyalty by obtaining major leadership positions in the Democratic Party,” said Illinois House Republican Leader Jim Durkin. “What do they have to say now about the corruption charges against their leader and political godfather? The people of Illinois deserve to know.”

Two years ago, after ComEd admitted to a nearly ten-year scheme to bribe former Illinois House Speaker Mike Madigan, Illinois House Republican Leader Jim Durkin demanded the creation of a special committee to investigate Madigan’s corrupt activity and determine grounds for discipline. Instead of running a real investigation, Welch, who was chosen to ‘lead’ the committee by Madigan, called it a “show trial” and shut down the committee without issuing any conclusions or findings after only three sham meetings, one witness and no subpoenas. 

“Welch and Hernandez presided over a sham ‘Special Investigation’ into then-Speaker Madigan’s role in the ComEd scandal. They used it to provide him political cover, and were rewarded for their ‘hard work’,” said Illinois Republican Party Chairman Don Tracy. “The Democrats talk about the defining choice in this election, and they are correct – we are very different. Democrats cover for corruption to protect their power and Republicans want to take it away and give it back to the people of Illinois.” 

Welch called the investigation a “political show that was concocted” by Republicans as a “power grab” for the minority party – but federal investigations prove otherwise as corruption charges against Madigan and his accomplices continue to grow.

After successfully shutting down the House investigation into Madigan, Welch was promoted to Speaker of the House and Hernandez was elected as the new chairwoman of the Democratic Party of Illinois. All three Democrats on the investigative panel were funded by campaign committees controlled by Speaker Madigan who had given about $585,000 to Manley, nearly $133,000 to Hernandez and more than $100,000 to Welch, according to state election board records as reported by  WBEZ.

“Speaker Welch and Chairwoman Hernandez had the opportunity to live up to their oaths of office and end the pervasive corruption that has plagued our state,” said House Deputy Republican Leader Tom Demmer who served on the committee.  “Instead, they chose to protect the power of politicians and political insiders. They failed the committee, they failed the people of Illinois and they continue to remain silent and actionless as the culture of corruption continues to operate.”

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