Rockford Sun

Republican state House candidate Kathie Hansen finds House Speaker Mike Madigan’s response to being asked to appear before a Special House committee to answer questions about some of his suspect actions all too familiar.

“I think it indicates a lack of transparency that is quite common in Springfield,” Hansen told the Rockford Sun. “It seems the evidence is stacking up against him and his unwillingness to testify is another indication of guilt.”

With a bipartisan Special House committee now convened to look into some of the speaker’s more questionable behavior related to the ongoing ComEd federal corruption probe, Madigan recently let it be known he has no intention of answering questions about his suspected involvement before the bipartisan panel. The state’s longest-tenured lawmaker made his feelings clear in a three-page letter he sent to committee members in which he also forcefully defended his widely known practice of patronage hiring as not “ethically improper.”

“All of a sudden he doesn’t have anything to say, which only raises more questions,” added Hansen, who is now running against Democrat Maurice West Jr. in the 67th District. “To me, it says he has something to hide. Voters deserve much better. He’s been in power now a quarter of time Illinois has been a state and has as much power as any governor in the country. He owes answers to the people that clearly want to hear them.”

Hansen said she also takes exception with Madigan’s stance on patronage.

“I think it’s extremely wrong,” she said. “Maybe he’s missed an ethics class or two with all years in Springfield because most people will tell you everything is wrong with that. It’s totally bad for the system and by him standing so firmly behind the practice tells you he no longer understand right from wrong, yet another reason for him to be shown the door.”