Kankakee Times

Amid former House Speaker Mike Madigan's indictment by a federal grand jury on allegations of racketeering and bribery, Sen. Jason Barickman (R-Bloomington) is calling for stronger ethics standards.

"Today Madigan joins a long list of Illinois politicians who have been indicted by the federal government. This is another example of the need for stronger ethics standards and the continued need to root out corruption in Illinois government. It also shows why we need a strong two-party system that offer voters real choices so that they can send corrupt politicians packing. People deserve the chance to have a government that they can trust," Barickman said in a statement.

In a 22-count indictment, prosecutors allege that Madigan abused the power of his office while generating income for his own well-being. Madigan's close friend Michael McClain is named as a co-defendant.

Madigan has denied all allegations against him.

"I was never involved in any criminal activity," Madigan said in a statement. "The government is attempting to criminalize a routine constituent service: job recommendations. That is not illegal, and these other charges are equally unfounded. Throughout my 50 years as a public servant, I worked to address the needs of my constituents, always keeping in mind the high standards required and the trust the public placed in me. I adamantly deny these accusations and look back proudly on my time as an elected official, serving the people of Illinois."

Barickman has been urging changes to ethics inquiries and rules since 2017, at least. In 2017, he posted an open letter to his official website, that read in part: "I supported the passage of Senate Bill 402 which created new ethics standards for sexual harassment and House Bill 137 which removed the time limit to allow the Illinois Legislative Inspector General (LIG) to investigate complaints made over the last three years when the General Assembly was without an Inspector General. I believe this was an extremely necessary and long overdue step in improving ethics standards and enforcement, and I applaud the Governor for signing these into law. I am glad that the members of the General Assembly were able to work together in a bipartisan manner to address these issues. I am concerned, however, that there are still many areas where our state ethics act falls woefully short and may, in fact, inhibit the ability of the Legislative Inspector General from being an effective investigator. The people of Illinois need to be able to have faith in their government and to be able to trust their elected officials."