METROPOLIS – House Republican Floor Leader and State Representative Patrick Windhorst (R-Metropolis) participated in a zoom press conference on Thursday afternoon in response to a Federal jury’s guilty verdict in the perjury and obstruction of justice trial of former Mike Madigan Chief of Staff Tim Mapes. Windhorst and Deputy Republican Leader Ryan Spain (R-Peoria) says Mapes’ conviction highlights an urgent need for ethics and corruption reforms.
“Today’s guilty verdict is the latest in a string of examples of the urgent need for ethics reform to clean up corruption in Illinois,” Windhorst said. “No one man should have the kind of power over his staff, his friends, the political process and especially the legislative process that Mike Madigan did. The former Speaker will have his day in court to answer charges on RICO violations, bribery and racketeering charges next year.”
In May, Windhorst joined fellow House Republicans in calling for comprehensive ethics reforms prior to the end of Session. The response from Democrats to the HGOP news conference was to suggest ethics reform would be handled over the summer by an ethics working group.
“It’s late August. The summer is almost over. Tim Mapes has been found guilty,” Windhorst said. “The ComEd Four have been found guilty. Speaker Madigan is headed to trial. And to date, we have no indication that Democrats have done anything to move forward on ethics reform. How many GUILTY verdicts is it going to take for Democrats to join with Republicans and pass the tough, necessary, sweeping reforms to our ethics laws to clean up government and stamp out corruption for good? The time to act is now.”
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