Latest news with #IllinoisHouse
Chicago Tribune
3 days ago
- Politics
- Chicago Tribune
Matt Paprocki: Michael Madigan has left Illinoisans with a corrupt political system he refined
Former Illinois House Speaker Michael Madigan was sentenced Friday to 71/2 years in federal prison and fined $2.5 million after being convicted on 10 counts of bribery, conspiracy and wire fraud. While Illinoisans finally see some justice, they also see Madigan's corrupt political legacy still hurting them. Madigan was the longest-serving statehouse speaker in U.S. history. Under his reign, Illinois achieved the nation's lowest credit rating and ranked as the second-most indebted and corrupt state. On average, more than one Illinois public servant per week — for 40 years between 1983 and 2023 — was convicted of corruption just in federal court, not including local prosecutions. High taxes, the pension crisis, massive debt and corruption have driven residents to better-governed states. Much of it can be traced to Madigan and how he pulled the levers. The structure Madigan built concentrated power in ways exclusive to Illinois. He crafted rules that continue to give Illinois House speakers unparalleled power to control which bills become law, he is responsible for the state's extreme gerrymandering and he nurtured the culture of corruption that continues to plague Illinois. Lawmakers must unravel Madigan's influence and the control he built through little-known rules of procedure. Madigan rewrote these to gather power and co-opt the legislature, effectively silencing voters' voices when in conflict with leadership's agenda. Through these House rules, the speaker wields nearly absolute control over the legislative process. The most troubling of which allows the speaker to effectively control which bills, amendments and motions even make out of the Rules Committee. Madigan designed the process so everything must first pass through this committee, so that the speaker hand-picks the majority and bills opposed by leadership can simply die there through inaction. Getting a bill out of the Rules Committee requires either unanimous consent — virtually impossible — or three-fifths support from both parties' caucuses, with each supporter required to sponsor the bill. That's an extraordinarily high barrier found in no other state. The Rules Committee has rarely voted contrary to the speaker's wishes. Madigan's successor, Speaker Emanuel 'Chris' Welch, has adopted a similar rule by which only bills with 60 Democratic sponsors get called for a vote on the House floor. That makes it very difficult for bills without a large, progressive-leaning caucus to emerge. Additionally, Madigan championed the state's extreme gerrymandering by drawing the maps during the 1980s, 2000s and 2010s, plus influenced the 2020s effort. It was how he first started gathering power, saving Chicago Democrats' seats in the state legislature by nipping off just enough of the growing suburbs to dilute their voting power. By doing so, he exacerbated Illinois' uncompetitive elections in the following decades, leaving voters without choices and little reason to go to the polls. When more than 560,000 registered voters in 2016 tried to stop him and ensure legislative maps were independently drawn, he used one of his ComEd cronies to sue and kill the effort. That decision still thwarts any reforms unless state lawmakers initiate them. Illinois lawmakers should make that break with Madigan's corruption by adopting an independent political mapmaking process for the people's representatives in Springfield and in Washington, D.C. There's little they could do of greater significance than giving voters back their power. In addition to the elimination of Madigan's rules and creating independently drawn political maps, the state needs comprehensive ethics reforms. Those reforms must go beyond the toothless package the legislature passed after his indictment. They include: Until Illinois reforms gerrymandering, ethics laws and House rules to better reflect democratic principles seen in other state legislatures, Madigan will continue controlling us. The power to make law will remain concentrated in the hands of a few. Madigan's punishment should include sitting in his cell knowing his machine is being dismantled. That would be full justice for Illinoisans. Matt Paprocki is president and CEO of the Illinois Policy Institute
Arab Times
6 days ago
- Politics
- Arab Times
Longest-serving legislative leader in US history given 7 1/2 years in federal corruption case
SPRINGFIELD, Ill, June 14, (AP): The stunning downward spiral of Michael Madigan's political career ended Friday with a 7 1/2-year prison sentence and a $2.5 million fine for the former Illinois House speaker and the longest-serving legislative leader in US history after he was convicted of trading legislation for the enrichment of his friends and allies. US District Judge John Robert Blakey sentenced the 83-year-old in U.S. District Court in Chicago. Nicknamed the "Velvet Hammer' for his quiet but hard-nosed style, Madigan was convicted in February on 10 of 23 counts in a remarkable corruption trial that lasted four months. The case churned through 60 witnesses and mountains of documents, photographs and taped conversations. Federal prosecutors sought a 12 1/2-year prison term. Madigan's attorneys wanted five years' probation, saying he is a good man who tried to do right by taxpayers and needs to be home to care for his ailing wife, Shirley, who submitted a videotaped statement to the court requesting her husband be able to come home. But Blakey noted that federal sentencing guidelines allowed for a term of 105 years based on findings in evidence - notably that Madigan committed perjury when he took the stand in his own defense. Blakey was particularly piqued over what he called "a nauseating display of perjury and evasion.' "You lied. You did not have to. You had a right to sit there and exercise your right to silence,' Blakey said. "But you took the stand and you took the law into your own hands.' During a legislative career spanning half a century, Madigan served nearly four decades as speaker, the longest on record for a US legislator. Combined with more than 20 years as chairperson of the Illinois Democratic Party, he set much of the state's political agenda while handpicking candidates for political office. More often than not, he also controlled political mapmaking, drawing lines to favor his party. Meanwhile, prosecutors said, the Chicago Democrat built a private legal career that allowed him to amass a net worth of $40 million. Madigan was convicted on 10 counts of bribery, conspiracy, wire fraud and other charges for ensuring approval of legislation favorable to utility giant ComEd in exchange for kickbacks and jobs and contracts for loyalists, including a Chicago alderman seeking a paid job on a state board after retiring from government. The jury deadlocked on six counts, including an overarching racketeering conspiracy charge, and acquitted him on seven others.
New York Post
7 days ago
- Politics
- New York Post
Ex-Illinois House speaker Michael Madigan — the longest-serving legislative leader in US history — sentenced in corruption case
The stunning downward spiral of Michael Madigan's political career ended Friday with a 7 1/2-year prison sentence and a $2.5 million fine for the former Illinois House speaker and the longest-serving legislative leader in U.S. history after he was convicted of trading legislation for the enrichment of his friends and allies. U.S. District Judge John Robert Blakey sentenced the 83-year-old in U.S. District Court in Chicago. Nicknamed the 'Velvet Hammer' for his quiet but hard-nosed style, Madigan was convicted in February on 10 of 23 counts in a remarkable corruption trial that lasted four months. 3 Michael Madigan was sentenced to 7 1/2 years in prison Friday after he was convicted of trading legislation for the enrichment of his friends and allies. AP The case churned through 60 witnesses and mountains of documents, photographs and taped conversations. Federal prosecutors sought a 12 1/2-year prison term. Madigan's attorneys wanted five years' probation, saying he is a good man who tried to do right by taxpayers and needs to be home to care for his ailing wife, Shirley, who submitted a videotaped statement to the court requesting her husband be able to come home. But Blakey noted that federal sentencing guidelines allowed for a term of 105 years based on findings in evidence — notably that Madigan committed perjury when he took the stand in his own defense. Blakey was particularly piqued over what he called 'a nauseating display of perjury and evasion.' 'You lied. You did not have to. You had a right to sit there and exercise your right to silence,' Blakey said. 'But you took the stand and you took the law into your own hands.' 3 Madigan was convicted on 10 of 23 counts for a corruption trial that lasted 4 months. AP During a legislative career spanning half a century, Madigan served nearly four decades as speaker, the longest on record for a U.S. legislator. Combined with more than 20 years as chairperson of the Illinois Democratic Party, he set much of the state's political agenda while handpicking candidates for political office. More often than not, he also controlled political mapmaking, drawing lines to favor his party. Meanwhile, prosecutors said, the Chicago Democrat built a private legal career that allowed him to amass a net worth of $40 million. Madigan was convicted on 10 counts of bribery, conspiracy, wire fraud and other charges for ensuring approval of legislation favorable to utility giant ComEd in exchange for kickbacks and jobs and contracts for loyalists, including a Chicago alderman seeking a paid job on a state board after retiring from government. The jury deadlocked on six counts, including an overarching racketeering conspiracy charge, and acquitted him on seven others. Madigan spoke briefly before sentencing, asking to avoid prison so he could care for his wife and spend his final years with his family. 'I'm truly sorry for putting the people of the state of Illinois through this,' Madigan said. 'I tried to do my best to serve the people of the state of Illinois. I am not perfect.' During a three-and-a-half-hour hearing, Blakey noted the numerous letters sent to the court supporting Madigan. The judge said Madigan was a good family man and a kind man, helping his neighbors without pause. But he said, 'Being great is hard. Being honest is not. It's hard to commit crimes. It actually takes effort.' Assistant U.S. Attorney Sarah Streicker hammered home the fact that Madigan has not taken responsibility for the crimes or shown any remorse. 3 Federal prosecutors wanted him sentenced for 12 1/2 years. AP Streicker noted that Madigan, having served as speaker through seven governors, 'had every opportunity to set the standard for honest government.' Instead, she said, 'he fit right into the mold of yet another corrupt leader in Illinois.' Defense lawyers had called the government's recommended sentence 'draconian' and, given Madigan's age, a life sentence. 'He did not seek to be greedy. He lived a very frugal life …,' Madigan attorney Dan Collins said. 'The rhetoric wants to make Mike responsible for the long history of corruption in Illinois. He is not, Judge. He is one man.' They asked Blakey to consider the totality of Madigan's life and work and the need to care for his wife in requesting a sentence of five years' probation, with one year of home confinement, a requirement to perform community service and a 'reasonable fine.' In a video submitted to the court, Shirley Madigan said she needed her husband to come home. 'I really don't exist without him,' she said. 'I wish I could say that I do, but I don't know what I would do without Michael. I would probably have to find someplace to live and I'd probably have to find care.' Tried alongside Madigan was his former legislative colleague and longtime confidant, Michael McClain. The jury couldn't reach a decision on any of the six counts against McClain. He was convicted, though, in a separate trial over the ComEd conspiracy last year.
Yahoo
7 days ago
- Politics
- Yahoo
Editorial: The sad application of justice in the Michael Madigan saga
In the end, U.S. District Judge John Robert Blakey chose to send a stern message with his 7.5-year prison sentence of Michael J. Madigan, former speaker of the Illinois House of Representatives. Madigan — for decades the most powerful politician in Illinois, the state that gave this nation its greatest president — will have to spend more than six years of that term at a minimum under federal rules, even assuming good behavior. The former Illinois House speaker is 83, so the likelihood of his dying while in confinement is considerable. A human tragedy is self-evident. But that doesn't make Blakey's sentence unjust. Madigan admitted no wrongdoing in his own short statement before the judge handed down the sentence. The closest he came was saying, 'I'm not perfect.' We wonder whether there was a legal strategy behind such obstinance given near-certain appeals of the verdict as to how federal law was applied to Madigan's conduct. A tactical reasoning may have been behind Madigan's rejection of the courtroom contrition that might otherwise have trimmed his sentence. We'll find out in due course. Speaking of the 16th president of the United States, Blakey referenced Abraham Lincoln before he sentenced Madigan: 'It's really hard to be Honest Abe right? He's a unicorn in our American history. Being great is hard. But being honest is not. Being honest is actually very easy. It's hard to commit crimes.' And the evidence showed that Madigan did indeed work hard in hatching and executing the schemes that a jury of Madigan's peers concluded were felonies. The justice behind this sentence reflects how Madigan ran this state for so long, his unprincipled grip on power, and the price we all will pay for many years to come for the financial malpractice he left in his expansive wake. The former House speaker was convicted on multiple corruption-related counts based mainly on his brazenly corrupt dealings with Commonwealth Edison in the 2010s, but there's little doubt the modus operandi he used to help ComEd and parent Exelon rake in billions from ratepayers was in place for far longer than the eight years on which federal prosecutors focused. Those eight years were just the period wherein the FBI and the U.S. attorney's office pressured former Ald. Danny Solis to wear a wire and capture damning interactions with Madigan (and powerhouse Ald. Edward Burke, who is serving time as we write) and tapped the cellphone of Madigan confidant and right-hand man Michael McClain, for years ComEd's lead outside lobbyist. Even people inside ComEd would refer to McClain as a 'double agent,' serving Madigan as much or more than the company that was paying him. McClain was caught on wiretaps saying that Madigan was his one, true client. The corruption caught on those intercepted calls and in a few videos taken by cooperating co-conspirators was just as ugly as those who battled Madigan politically (and usually lost) and those who criticized his stranglehold on state government (such as this page) always had imagined it would be. The plotting. The fixation on rewarding political soldiers with no-work arrangements. The frequent demands on a compromised and beholden company to perform the patronage function local government used to provide before courts put the kibosh on the practice. The public was made privy to all. And who paid to keep the Madigan machine running? Anyone paying taxes. Anyone paying an electric bill. That is, just about everyone in this state. Judge Blakey's agreement with prosecutors that Madigan lied when he took the witness stand in his own defense suggested there would be no mercy forthcoming. Blakey even went so far as to call Madigan's lies 'a nauseating display.' We marveled in January, witnessing Madigan's testimony, how he depicted McClain as just one friend among a sizable coterie of loyalists when anyone who'd sat through Madigan's trial (and the 2023 'ComEd Four' trial in which McClain was convicted) knew full well that McClain and Madigan were extremely close. Madigan had a strategic reason to distance himself from his supremely loyal friend, who evidence showed acted as Madigan's agent in his dealings with ComEd and others in Springfield, even the Democratic lawmakers who typically followed Madigan's orders. Once he was convicted, Madigan's betrayal of McClain served to exacerbate his crimes in the judge's eyes. After a jury convicted Madigan in February on 10 of 23 counts (on the remainder he was acquitted or jurors couldn't agree), we held out hope that the former speaker's downfall would spell the end of corruption on the scale that he practiced in Illinois. We still hold fast to that hope and belief, while of course acknowledging that graft and corruption, albeit on a less ambitious scale always will be a part of our politics and governance as long as human nature exists. But this prison sentence should serve as a clear deterrent for any future political Svengali wanting to follow in Madigan's footsteps. Michael J. Madigan had myriad political skills, as a parade of governors whom he watched come and go all would attest. To the very end, Madigan ran the playbook of his mentor, Mayor Richard J. Daley, written in an era when the Democratic machine was the accepted way of political life in Chicago and Illinois. We feel sorry for Madigan and his family. But we applaud this firm and final repudiation of the 'Velvet Hammer's' brand of politics. Submit a letter, of no more than 400 words, to the editor here or email letters@
Chicago Tribune
7 days ago
- Politics
- Chicago Tribune
Editorial: The sad application of justice in the Michael Madigan saga
In the end, U.S. District Judge John Robert Blakey chose to send a stern message with his 7.5-year prison sentence of Michael J. Madigan, former speaker of the Illinois House of Representatives. Madigan — for decades the most powerful politician in Illinois, the state that gave this nation its greatest president — will have to spend more than six years of that term at a minimum under federal rules, even assuming good behavior. The former Illinois House speaker is 83, so the likelihood of his dying while in confinement is considerable. A human tragedy is self-evident. But that doesn't make Blakey's sentence unjust. Madigan admitted no wrongdoing in his own short statement before the judge handed down the sentence. The closest he came was saying, 'I'm not perfect.' We wonder whether there was a legal strategy behind such obstinance given near-certain appeals of the verdict as to how federal law was applied to Madigan's conduct. A tactical reasoning may have been behind Madigan's rejection of the courtroom contrition that might otherwise have trimmed his sentence. We'll find out in due course. Speaking of the 16th president of the United States, Blakey referenced Abraham Lincoln before he sentenced Madigan: 'It's really hard to be Honest Abe right? He's a unicorn in our American history. Being great is hard. But being honest is not. Being honest is actually very easy. It's hard to commit crimes.' And the evidence showed that Madigan did indeed work hard in hatching and executing the schemes that a jury of Madigan's peers concluded were felonies. The justice behind this sentence reflects how Madigan ran this state for so long, his unprincipled grip on power, and the price we all will pay for many years to come for the financial malpractice he left in his expansive wake. The former House speaker was convicted on multiple corruption-related counts based mainly on his brazenly corrupt dealings with Commonwealth Edison in the 2010s, but there's little doubt the modus operandi he used to help ComEd and parent Exelon rake in billions from ratepayers was in place for far longer than the eight years on which federal prosecutors focused. Those eight years were just the period wherein the FBI and the U.S. attorney's office pressured former Ald. Danny Solis to wear a wire and capture damning interactions with Madigan (and powerhouse Ald. Edward Burke, who is serving time as we write) and tapped the cellphone of Madigan confidant and right-hand man Michael McClain, for years ComEd's lead outside lobbyist. Even people inside ComEd would refer to McClain as a 'double agent,' serving Madigan as much or more than the company that was paying him. McClain was caught on wiretaps saying that Madigan was his one, true client. The corruption caught on those intercepted calls and in a few videos taken by cooperating co-conspirators was just as ugly as those who battled Madigan politically (and usually lost) and those who criticized his stranglehold on state government (such as this page) always had imagined it would be. The plotting. The fixation on rewarding political soldiers with no-work arrangements. The frequent demands on a compromised and beholden company to perform the patronage function local government used to provide before courts put the kibosh on the practice. The public was made privy to all. And who paid to keep the Madigan machine running? Anyone paying taxes. Anyone paying an electric bill. That is, just about everyone in this state. Judge Blakey's agreement with prosecutors that Madigan lied when he took the witness stand in his own defense suggested there would be no mercy forthcoming. Blakey even went so far as to call Madigan's lies 'a nauseating display.' We marveled in January, witnessing Madigan's testimony, how he depicted McClain as just one friend among a sizable coterie of loyalists when anyone who'd sat through Madigan's trial (and the 2023 'ComEd Four' trial in which McClain was convicted) knew full well that McClain and Madigan were extremely close. Madigan had a strategic reason to distance himself from his supremely loyal friend, who evidence showed acted as Madigan's agent in his dealings with ComEd and others in Springfield, even the Democratic lawmakers who typically followed Madigan's orders. Once he was convicted, Madigan's betrayal of McClain served to exacerbate his crimes in the judge's eyes. After a jury convicted Madigan in February on 10 of 23 counts (on the remainder he was acquitted or jurors couldn't agree), we held out hope that the former speaker's downfall would spell the end of corruption on the scale that he practiced in Illinois. We still hold fast to that hope and belief, while of course acknowledging that graft and corruption, albeit on a less ambitious scale always will be a part of our politics and governance as long as human nature exists. But this prison sentence should serve as a clear deterrent for any future political Svengali wanting to follow in Madigan's footsteps. Michael J. Madigan had myriad political skills, as a parade of governors whom he watched come and go all would attest. To the very end, Madigan ran the playbook of his mentor, Mayor Richard J. Daley, written in an era when the Democratic machine was the accepted way of political life in Chicago and Illinois. We feel sorry for Madigan and his family. But we applaud this firm and final repudiation of the 'Velvet Hammer's' brand of politics.
