Ex-Speaker Madigan guilty on 10 counts in landmark federal corruption trial. Former Illinois House Speaker Michael J. Madigan was found guilty this week in federal court on 10 felony counts that centered on bribery, bribery conspiracy, and wire fraud.
Madigan’s long-running reign as Speaker of the Illinois House of Representatives ended with his ouster as Speaker in January 2021 amid a federal bribery investigation. He resigned his legislative seat one month later. Madigan had served in the legislature for more than 50 years, 36 of those years as Speaker of the House. For much of that time he simultaneously led the Illinois Democratic Party, tightening his stranglehold not just on legislators, but on all Democratic elected officials in Illinois.
In March 2023, a federal grand jury indicted Madigan on racketeering and bribery charges. The 23-count indictment accused Madigan of leading a criminal enterprise to enhance his political power and financial well-being while also generating income for his political allies and associates.
Madigan was alleged to have received $120,000 from ComEd in the form of no-work contracts for his allies in exchange for his support on an energy bill that benefited the energy giant. He was also accused of accepting bribes from AT&T Illinois, which allegedly funneled $22,500 in funds to a former State Representative with the understanding that Madigan would support legislation ending AT&T’s obligation to provide landline service to all Illinoisans. The former House Speaker has spent millions of dollars from his campaign fund to cover his legal fees using a loophole that House Republicans have worked tirelessly to patch.
Madigan’s trial began in October 2024. Closing arguments wrapped up on January 28 and the jury began deliberations one day later. The jury deliberated for 64 hours over the course of two weeks before returning a partial verdict, finding Madigan guilty on multiple corruption charges.
Even though Madigan was found guilty, the culture of corruption in this state remains very much evident.
Emanuel "Chris" Welch, the current Speaker of the House, is Madigan’s hand-picked successor. Let’s not forget the lengths he went to stall and hinder a bipartisan committee that was investigating Madigan’s corruption. Speaker Welch chaired that committee, and shut it down, calling it a “sham show trial.”
Despite the Democrats’ attempts to sweep Madigan’s web of corruption under the rug, justice has caught up with them. The majority party was complicit in the way that Madigan ruled Illinois politics, and many House Democrats remain silent and refuse to stand up for meaningful ethics reforms.
Madigan joins a growing list, including many cronies that enabled Madigan’s corrupt activities, of Illinois government officials who have used corruption tactics to assert power and serve themselves.
This verdict should send a message to the leaders in our state that something has to change, and the pattern of corruption Illinois is plagued with can no longer be tolerated.
House Republican Leadership responds to Madigan guilty verdict. In the wake of a partial verdict in which former Illinois House Speaker Michael Madigan was found guilty on multiple counts of bribery, conspiracy, and wire fraud, House Republicans renewed their demand for the General Assembly to take action on ethics reforms to root out corruption and prevent criminal activity by politicians and their cronies.
Immediately following the guilty verdict against Madigan, House Minority Leader Tony McCombie, Deputy Minority Leader Ryan Spain, and House Minority Floor Leader Patrick Windhorst held a virtual press conference to respond to the verdict and discuss critically needed ethics reforms for Illinois state government.
House Minority Leader Tony McCombie issued the following statement in response to the partial guilty verdict in the federal corruption trial of former House Speaker Michael Madigan:
“House Republicans remain determined in demanding meaningful reform to restore trust in our government and serve the interests of Illinois families. Today’s federal court verdict convicting Mike Madigan, the former Speaker of the House whose 40-year reign casts a long shadow over Illinois politics, on 10 counts of bribery, conspiracy, and wire fraud underscores the urgent need for action.
“Unfortunately, Democrats in Springfield have repeatedly failed to take ethics legislation seriously, even after the resignation of the Legislative Inspector General, which should have been a wake-up call for change. Instead of seizing the opportunity to implement real oversight and accountability, the majority party has allowed the status quo of corruption and insider politics to persist.
“House Republicans are committed to fighting for robust reforms that prioritize the needs of Illinois families over political self-interest. It’s time to end the culture of corruption and deliver the honest, transparent government our state deserves.”
Deputy Minority Leader and State Representative Ryan Spain released the following statement after a guilty verdict was handed to former Illinois House Speaker Mike Madigan in federal court:
“Today’s verdict doubles down on what House Republican lawmakers have known for some time: the culture of corruption that has poisoned our statehouse must come to an end. Lawmakers must remain steadfast in our work to expose ethical loopholes that have eroded public trust. The time is now for honest, transparent government, one families across our state can rely on.”
State Representative Patrick Windhorst said the ten guilty verdicts returned against former longtime Democratic House Speaker Mike Madigan underscored an urgent need for Illinois to clean up corruption and pass sweeping ethics reforms.
“Arrests, indictments, prison sentences, governors in prison, Chicago Alderman busted for bribery, the list goes on,” Windhorst said. “Now, we have the longest-serving House Speaker in Illinois history found guilty by a jury of his peers for public corruption, bribery, and wire fraud.
“Hopefully, this guilty verdict will be the wake-up call House Democrats will actually pay attention to and finally move on badly-needed ethics and corruption reforms. We must end the revolving door that sees lawmakers turn into lobbyists, we must empower the legislative inspector general to have subpoena power, and we must work together as a General Assembly to enact strong anti-corruption policies that may once and for all restore the faith of our citizens in their state government. Inaction on this topic is now inexcusable. It’s time to get to work.”
In wake of Madigan verdict Illinois must embrace ethics reform. During the months-long trial of former Illinois Speaker of the House Michael Madigan, the jury heard testimony about the powerful Democrat’s use of pay-to-play tactics that included bribery and ghost jobs. That testimony ultimately led to a guilty verdict for the longtime politician.
Despite the guilty verdict, the culture of corruption cultivated by Madigan is still in play in the Land of Lincoln and we cannot afford to be complacent. Madigan’s handpicked successor now presides over the House of Representatives, and the House chamber is still governed by Madigan’s rules.
The culture created by Madigan gives the current Speaker the ultimate power to control what legislation is acted upon, allowing one person to block laws like implementing term limits or preventing politicians from drawing voting districts. It is a culture that permitted a corrupt politician to select a successor – one who, incidentally, single handedly shut down an investigation into corruption allegations against that politician.
It is a culture that lets legislators lobby while in office, puts roadblocks in front of those trying to enforce accountability and allows public officials charged with crimes to use campaign funds for their legal defense.
In the wake of the Madigan verdict, Illinois should move full steam ahead to enact ethics reforms and finally eradicate the culture of corruption that has plagued our state for far too long. House Republicans are ready with a plan and a legislative ethics package that would put power back in the hands of Illinoisans, where it should be. Provisions in the legislative package includes:
- Suspending pensions from retired lawmakers who face corruption charges stemming from their work as legislators
- Requiring elected officials to recuse themselves from voting on legislation when they or a family member would directly benefit it
- Prohibiting legislators and Constitutional officers from lobbying at the local level
- Putting ‘teeth’ into the Legislative Inspector General’s office to subpoena people without first getting approval from the people they may be investigating
- Stopping the ‘revolving door’ practice of one day being a Member of the General Assembly and the next day becoming a lobbyist
- Lengthening the ‘revolving door’ prohibition and removing loopholes so that a legislator cannot be a member of the General Assembly one day and the next day be able to lobby their former colleagues
- Not allowing public officials to use campaign funds for their legal defense
Timothy Blair, executive secretary of the Illinois General Assembly Retirement System, said Thursday he “sent the letter out today” to notify Madigan the pension system will stop sending his monthly checks because Illinois law bars elected officials in the legislative pension plan from collecting payments once they are convicted or enter a guilty plea in a felony tied to their government job.
But Blair said Madigan will receive his nearly $13,170 pension check for February because that has already been processed.
In a felony case that rocked Illinois politics, a federal jury on Wednesday convicted Madigan on 10 of 23 counts, including bribery conspiracy and other corruption charges focused heavily on a Commonwealth Edison bribery scandal and his plot to get a state board appointment for alderman-turned-government-mole Danny Solis. […]
Madigan lost the speakership in January 2021 as an expanding federal probe started to clearly indicate he was a target. He had served a nationwide record 36 years as speaker but a group of 19 House Democrats, mostly women, refused to back him for another two-year term as leader of the chamber.
Soon thereafter, Madigan, who was first elected to the House in 1970, resigned as a state representative. He was indicted in March 2022.
Since his retirement, Madigan has been collecting his monthly legislative pension payments, receiving more than $521,000 with this month’s check, Blair said. During his half-century in office, Madigan contributed $352,345 into the pension system, Blair said in an email. Read more from the Chicago Tribune.
ILLEGAL IMMIGRATION
What are the Illinois ‘sanctuary’ policies the Trump administration is looking to invalidate? Amidst numerous legal challenges to Trump administration policies, the State of Illinois, City of Chicago and Cook County Government are facing a challenge of their own.
A suit filed in federal court by the Department of Justice (DOJ) last week challenges sanctuary laws in the state, specifically naming the Illinois Way Forward Act, the Illinois TRUST Act, Chicago’s Welcoming City ordinance and Cook County’s “Policy for Responding to ICE Detainers.” […]
The Illinois TRUST Act states that local law enforcement cannot stop, arrest, search, detain or continue to detain a person solely based on their immigration status. They also cannot stop, arrest, search, detain or continue to detain a person based on an immigration detainer or civil immigration warrant.
An immigration detainer is a request from U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) to hold an immigrant up to 48 hours past their release date, when taken into custody for unrelated charges, to allow ICE to take custody of them. Civil immigration warrants, also known as ICE warrants, are issued by immigration officers directing law enforcement to arrest the person listed. They are not issued by a judge and are not considered official warrants, so they don’t grant ICE the same access a judicial warrant does.
In 2016, a federal judge in Chicago ruled ICE overreached its authority by issuing detainers and said local authorities were not required to abide by them, as reported by The Chicago Reader.
The TRUST Act also prohibits local law enforcement from working with ICE on civil immigration matters “including any collateral assistance such as coordinating an arrest in a courthouse or other public facility, providing use of any equipment, transporting any individuals, or establishing a security or traffic perimeter surrounding such operations, or any other on-site support.”
Local law enforcement also cannot release a person into ICE’s custody, share information with ICE or permit ICE to use facilities or equipment. […]
The justice department is asking that the above policies be ruled invalid for violating the Supremacy Clause, which says federal law supersedes state law. The department is asking for a temporary ruling preventing the policies from being enforced. Finally, they’re asking that any costs and fees to the United States be paid by the defendants in the case. Read more from The Daily Line.
JOBS
Midwest Stock Exchange leaves Chicago. The exchange’s current owner, Atlanta-based Intercontinental Exchange, is moving the trading platform to Dallas, where it will be rebranded as “NYSE Texas.” Although the Chicago-based exchange has closed its once-busy physical trading floor, it remains a significant player in the field of electronic equity transactions, with more than $100 million in stocks traded every day.
The announced move ends the life of what was once the “Chicago Stock Exchange,” an independent trading floor that specialized in Midwestern-based railroads and manufacturing enterprises. Founded in 1881, the Chicago Stock Exchange’s last home was located at 440 S. La Salle Street, on a trading floor that arched over Ida B. Wells Drive and the eastern leg of the Eisenhower Expressway. The move away from Chicago was described as a way to follow the money: many equity traders and day traders like to complete their transactions through a host computer that is located physically close to where they live, so their trading moves can gain electronic milliseconds over the trading moves of others. The Midwest Stock Exchange move announcement was made on Thursday, February 13.
Joann’s announces wave of store closures in Illinois, other states. The craft chain retailer, which has filed for bankruptcy, announced the imminent shutdown of 26 stores throughout Illinois this week. While the announcement did not delineate the number of jobs to be eliminated in Illinois, a closure announcement of this size could be expected to affect many hundreds or possibly more than 1,000 full-time and part-time positions.
Joann’s, which historically specialized in fabric and home sewing crafts, had attempted to broaden its goods lineup in recent years to cover a variety of art supplies and kits. The closures announced by Joann’s will require the permission of a bankruptcy court, which is expected to be granted. Joann’s released the closure announcement on Wednesday, February 12.
TAXES
Many Illinois taxpayers may qualify for free income tax preparation assistance. The program, which assists eligible Illinoisans to fill out and electronically file their income tax returns, is conducted in cooperation with the Internal Revenue Service and with volunteer coordinators from the private sector. Year 2024 tax returns are due by April 15, 2025, but state and federal tax refunds are sent out on a first-return-first-refund basis, so many taxpayers who are eligible for a potential refund may want to file as soon as possible.
The Illinois Department of Revenue has created a webpage to point qualifying taxpayers toward select physical locations, such as senior centers and public libraries, where these volunteers will be available to assist with tax preparation. Eligible taxpayers include people making $67,000/year or less, persons with disabilities, and persons whose first language is a language other than English.