The legal bills for Illinois House speaker Michael J. Madigan since January 2019 are now approaching $2 million, according to public records.
In the just completed second quarter of required financial filing, Friends of Michael J. Madigan reported paying $137,311 in legal fees.
But since Jan. 1, 2019, Madigan’s political campaign has paid a total of $1,853,638. State law mandates that political committee’s report how much they take in and how much they pay out four times a year.
On Friday, ComEd agreed to pay $200 million as a result of a federal criminal information that alleged the utility took part in a corrupt enterprise providing jobs and contracts “for the benefit of Public Official A and Public Official A’s associates.“
Public Official A is identified as the Speaker of the Illinois House of Representatives. Madigan is not charged in the criminal information.
A spokeswoman for Madigan issued a statement, denying any wrongdoing, but confirmed that the speaker had been subpoenaed and would cooperate with the ongoing investigation.
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“The Speaker has never helped someone find a job with the expectation that the person would not be asked to perform work by their employer, nor did he ever expect to provide anything to a prospective employer if it should choose to hire a person he recommended," Madigan spokeswoman Maura Possley said in a statement. "He has never made a legislative decision with improper motives and has engaged in no wrongdoing here. Any claim to the contrary is unfounded."
“This morning the Speaker accepted subpoenas related to his various offices for documents, asking for, among other things, documents related to possible job recommendations," the statement continued. "He will cooperate and respond to those requests for documents, which he believes will clearly demonstrate that he has done nothing criminal or improper."
