(The Center Square) – Illinois House Speaker Michael Madigan said he won’t voluntarily testify before a House Special Investigating Committee set for Tuesday in Springfield.
The committee is investigating a ComEd bribery scheme that implicated the longtime legislative leader. The scheme was revealed in a deferred prosecution agreement federal prosecutors reached with the utility in July.
The bipartisan House Special Investigating Committee is looking into the case. A committee hearing is set for Tuesday.
Because of the ongoing federal probe, Madigan, D-Chicago, said “the need to ensure that the federal investigation runs its course without interference or distraction, I do not believe I can provide testimony before the Committee at this time.”
“For the record, I am not exercising my Fifth Amendment rights by not appearing before the Committee,” the speaker wrote. “As I have said before, I have done nothing wrong.”
He called the charges brought up in the committee from House Minority Leader Jim Durkin, R-Western Springs, “nothing more than a political stunt.”
Madigan contends the deferred prosecution agreement “does not attribute any misconduct to me.”
He then took nearly three pages of a single-spaced letter to the committee about how he believes it’s his duty to help people, including helping those seeking employment.
“I have never helped someone find a job with an expectation that the person would not be asked to perform work by his or her employer,” he said. “I have never made a legislative decision with improper motives.”
“In conclusion, I cannot provide information I do not have, and cannot answer questions about issues of which I have no knowledge,” he wrote.