The House speaker and machine-style politics

It needs to stop. And I hope the ongoing federal corruption probe into Illinois Speaker of the House Michael Madigan is the end game. Sadly, if you've even glanced at a newspaper over the past decade, you know that our state is widely acknowledged as the most corrupt in the country.

And Boss Madigan, the Leader of the Pack, has tentacles that reach into Elgin. I can only hope that this federal probe ultimately implicates some of his local political cronies, including Elgin City Councilman Baldemar Lopez, who doubles as a registered lobbyist with the state. Last year, media reports pointed to Lopez as the co-owner of a consulting group with ties to ComEd, the utility giant charged with bribery in this current corruption probe.

Lopez received $60,000 from ComEd. He can't answer when asked about even a single initiative he promoted on the utility's behalf.

In Illinois politics, generally speaking, where there's smoke, there's fire. And Elgin residents are covered in the residue. Madigan's allies handed Lopez in the neighborhood of $25,000 in campaign contributions in his first run for Elgin City Council last year.

I guarantee you the disingenuous Lopez will not give you a straight answer to any direct question about his ties to ComEd or Boss Madigan. Or what day it is, for that matter. And if anyone's asking, why not question Elgin state Sen. Cristina Castro and Elgin state Rep. Anna Moeller about their ties to the speaker?

We need Lopez, Castro and Moeller to come clean about their ties to Madigan. This is still Elgin, though barely. And I can tell you that longtime residents have had enough of the Chicago machine-style politics now being practiced here.

Michael Hunziker

Elgin