McHenry Times

State Rep. Dan Ugaste (R-Geneva) struggles to understand how longtime House Speaker Mike Madigan can justify in his own mind refusing to appear before a special committee now probing corruption in Springfield.

“He’s probably the primary reason this is happening right now, Ugaste told the McHenry Times. “We need to know if there is anything to the situation being investigated and the only way to do that is get testimony and collect other evidence.”

Amid the backdrop of an 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.”

Through it all, Ugaste said he’d like to see the committee pull out all the stops in getting the answers from Madigan that he thinks the people deserve and want to hear.

“I think if you’re a state lawmaker asked to testify by members of the special committee you need to honor that request,” he said. “I think if people will not voluntarily come to testify and it’s shown that they have relevant information, a subpoena has to be allowed to get them to comply.”

As for the speaker’s defense of his history of patronage involved hiring, Ugaste added he also senses something is amiss.

“To me, if you don’t see something wrong with allegations like those that’s a real problem,” he said. “To me, it’s completely wrong and I don’t know how he doesn’t see anything wrong with a situation like that.”