From The Center Square:
House Speaker Michael Madigan calls on State Rep. Luis Arroyo to resign after bribery charge
- By Cole Lauterbach and Greg Bishop | The Center Square
Another Illinois official has been arrested on federal corruption charges.
State Rep. Luis Arroyo, D-Chicago, appeared Monday morning at the Dirksen Federal Court Building in Chicago.
He was arrested Friday and was charged with bribery of a state official, which carries a maximum penalty of ten years in prison.
In the announcement, John R. Lausch, Jr., U.S. Attorney for the Northern District of Illinois, said Arroyo paid an unnamed state senator $2,500 on Aug. 22 at a restaurant in Skokie in exchange for his support of sweepstakes-related legislation that would benefit one of Arroyo’s lobbying clients. Arroyo’s firm, Spartacus 3 LLC, was paid $7,500 on behalf of V.S.S. Inc. to lobby Chicago aldermen in matters related to “sweepstakes machines legislation.”
The payments would be made on a “per-month” basis, according to the release, and were given to someone else on the senator’s behalf to avoid detection.
House Minority Leader Jim Durkin said if Arroyo doesn’t step down by the end of the day, Durkin will file a motion via House rules to begin a special investigation that could lead to Arroyo’s removal.
Durkin said the motion would have to be approved by House Democrats, but he couldn’t say how long the process would take. Durkin said he’s been told nothing by Democratic leadership about Arroyo’s arrest.
“It’s as fast as the Democratic leadership wants it to go,” Durkin said. “I will ask that we move expeditiously and we’ll move accordingly. We can do this in the nest few months. It has to go through the rules committee and has to be approved by the Speaker.”
House Speaker Michael Madigan, D-Chicago, also said he wanted Arroyo to step down.
“The charges filed against Representative Arroyo are very serious,” Madigan said in a statement. “We have already contacted Representative Arroyo’s counsel to determine whether he will resign as state representative. I urge Representative Arroyo to resign from the House of Representatives, effective immediately. If he refuses, I will take the necessary steps to begin the process to remove him from office.”
Madigan also said Springfield needed stricter lobbying laws.
“Additionally, I have instructed my staff to begin bringing together stakeholders and experts to closely examine our ethics and lobbying laws and find ways to strengthen existing law,” Madigan said.
A lawmaker since 2006, Arroyo is the chairman of the House Appropriations-Capital Committee, which plays a central role in diverting state funding to infrastructure plans. He reportedly had a hand in crafting Illinois’ $45 billion infrastructure plan.
His next court date was not immediately set.
Madigan having searched his soul for any ulterior motive and exhausted every remedy possible.
Posted Arroyo’s pic in the Capital, with a sign stating: ‘Do Not Let This Man In The Building’.
A big “THANK YOU” goes out to all the people at the Federal level, fighting corruption on behalf of the people of the State of Illinois!
GO GET EM!
LOL! Mike Madigan, that paragon of virtue wants stricter lobbying laws.
That’s hilarious.
See how quick he is to through Arroyo, one of his house whips, under the bus.
The only thing that proves is that Arroyo probably wasn’t sharing with Mikey.
Ed Burke and Mike Madigan = Dead Men Walking!
You have got to love this.
Please pass the popcorn.
Terry Link is the FBI’s little snitch, but sometimes snitches like him, the eels they are, are needed to catch the Great White Whales, like Madigan and Cullerton.
Where is Kwame the AWOL wammy?
take the heat off of him… see right thru this… sharade.. lets throw someone else under the bus for now.
Just like the feds did with Madoff.