Quincy Reporter

Quincy conservative activist Mecki Kosin wants to see House Speaker Mike Madigan get what she thinks he deserves.

“I’m hoping authorities will keep digging and we’ll soon see his house cards come tumbling down,” Kosin told the Quincy Reporter. “For the good of this state, Mike Madigan needs to go sooner rather than later.”

Kosin doesn’t try to hide her outrage over a Special House bipartisan committee recently convened to look into some of Madigan’s most suspect actions involving ComEd and a pay-for-play scheme where all the perks were allegedly steered to him in exchange for favorable legislation abruptly ending its probe after only hearing from one witness and not issuing a subpoena to the speaker.

Members of the six-person panel bipartisan spent most of the time in the first gathering they’d engaged in since September sparing over process before arriving at a deadlocked vote that played out completely along party lines.

“What a joke, but I’m not at all surprised about it,” Kosin added. “At the end of the day, he still has power and even though some Democrats have said they won’t vote for him going forward he’s still widely seen as their leader.”

Outside of Springfield, Kosin is hopeful that may all be changing.

“With all the shenanigans that have happened this year, I think people have awakened,” she said. “I really think it will be tough for him to remain as speaker.”

While the committee's Democrat chair, state Rep. Emanuel “Chris” Welch of Hillside, blasted the hearing as a “political show trial” and a “sham,” Kosin has another theory for why she thinks most Democrats continue to line up in mass behind Madigan.

“He’s been around for so long, I think he has to have dirt on everyone,” she said. “He’s willing to go to any lengths to stay in power and the only way I can see him leaving is being carried out kicking and screaming.”