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Tribune targets Madigan son
Thursday, Aug 23, 2012 - Posted by Rich Miller * The Tribune has a story today about the son of House Speaker Michael Madigan rounding up a few suburban businesses for his employer, Mesirow Financial. The paper claims that the younger Madigan solicitied some business at his father’s political events. Andrew Madigan appears to be getting at least some clients that are close to the Speaker’s political organization, like Bridgeview Mayor Steven Landek, who is Madigan’s Senator…
* But this has to be the funniest line in the piece. It’s from Chicago Heights Mayor David Gonzalez, who received campaign help from Madigan’s organization in his first bid for the office…
Speaker Madigan has been playing in Chicago Heights politics for almost 20 years. He engineered the appointment of the town’s mayor to the Illinois House when Rep. George Scully got a judgeship. Madigan knows him some Chicago Heights. Better alibis, please.
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- walkinfool - Thursday, Aug 23, 12 @ 10:29 am:
Mesirow’s a first class organization. They compete on the merits. Are entities supposed to avoid them because a Madigan relative works there?
Are entities supposed to avoid any first-class law firm associated with an ex-Governor?
Just make sure the selection process is open and fair.
- Boone's is Back - Thursday, Aug 23, 12 @ 10:33 am:
Lots of connect the dots in this story, and no quid pro quos. Really shotty and poorly written.
Moreover Mesirow is huge, and does tons of municipal work. It’s like saying- “wow, look they get their power from ComEd.”
- Just Observing - Thursday, Aug 23, 12 @ 10:33 am:
I tend to agree with walkinfool — not saying there were no shenanigans, but Madigan’s son is also allowed to talk about and market his services.
- Ron Burgundy - Thursday, Aug 23, 12 @ 10:36 am:
Young Mr. Madigan may well turn out to be a very capable businessman in his own right. But, the fact is you don’t see 26-year-olds in that type of position at a company like Mesirow without that last name. Not that there is anything wrong with that. Sales is about who you know, and this is Illinois after all.
- wordslinger - Thursday, Aug 23, 12 @ 10:43 am:
If it’s competitively bid, it’s competitively bid.
It’ not like Mesirow is some tiny startup all of a sudden scoring business. That would be Wassertein Perrella, Rahm’s old firm (come and gone).
- lake county democrat - Thursday, Aug 23, 12 @ 10:54 am:
If “competitively bid” means “all bidders prequalified, then the lowest price wins” then (can’t believe I’m saying this) wordslinger is correct. If not, then it’s no defense at all. The pathetic comments by the Chicago Heights mayor kinda hints at the answer.
- Uncle Leo - Thursday, Aug 23, 12 @ 10:55 am:
I see that Andrew is also on the board of the Chicago Metropolitan Planning Agency. Hand picked by Rahm himself.
- Anyone Remember? - Thursday, Aug 23, 12 @ 10:57 am:
Ranks right down there with the NY Times Whitewater stories. For example, early in the story we read:
“Those same leaders have more leeway to dole out brokerage work to friends or political supporters because it is considered a professional service, typically not covered by strict bidding rules. ”
Later in the story, however, we read this:
“Landek said all insurance brokerage deals in Bridgeview go through a competitive bidding process.
“If Andrew Madigan was on the team that won the business, he was also on the Mesirow team that lost the health insurance bid,” said Landek, referring to the bids for city employee health insurance that went to another brokerage firm last year. “What does that tell you?”"
A REAL newspaper would have specifically mentioned whether or not the other places Andrew Madigan landed accounts require competitive bidding.
A REAL newspaper would have discussed how many other deals Mesirow lost.
- Hey Now - Thursday, Aug 23, 12 @ 10:59 am:
I still wonder if there could be a connection with his son’s work and legislation that attempts to reduce the influence of municipal insurance pools (SB1865HCA#1) to free up potential clients.
- Anonymous - Thursday, Aug 23, 12 @ 11:07 am:
The bedfellows that the Illinois political/business complex throw in the sack together never ceases cause me wonderment. One of Mesirow’s lobbysists is William Filan, the cousin of Blagojevich’s OMB director John Filan; one of the senior managers at Mesirow is Rep. Skip Saviano’s brother Nicholas. I suppose those dots are not connectable to anything questionable, or even to each other. It seems like a game of Jinga, though.
- Anonymous - Thursday, Aug 23, 12 @ 11:09 am:
Wordslinger, you don’t know what you’re talking about. Wasserstein Perella was a blockbuster boutique M&A firm from the day it opened in 1998, because Bruce Wasserstein was a Wall Street star. Emanuel may have brought in business, but he had little to do with WP’s meteoric rise, which pre-dated him.
- wordslinger - Thursday, Aug 23, 12 @ 11:22 am:
Don’t strain your juice, Anon 11:09, I was just pointing out that Mesirow has been in business for a long time, while Wassertein came, scored big and sold in 12 years.
They opened in 1988, not 1998.
- just sayin' - Thursday, Aug 23, 12 @ 12:18 pm:
Let’s see if Pat Brady screaches about this one. I’m guessing his firm won’t like him going against Mesirow Financial.
Selective outrage.
- Rich Miller - Thursday, Aug 23, 12 @ 12:19 pm:
The IL GOP press release merely included the first several grafs of the Trib story.
- Cook County Commoner - Thursday, Aug 23, 12 @ 12:31 pm:
Madigan, Jr.s tale sounds a little like Near North Insurance and Commissioner George Dunne from way back. Rumor had it that if you wanted a liquor license in Chicago back then, you first bought some coverage for your bar from Near North then visited the alderman. Some things never change. Illinois is an insurance friendly state enjoying the presence of Allstate, State Farm, CNA, Aon, Willis. Lots of money flowing.
- Steve Bartin - Thursday, Aug 23, 12 @ 1:48 pm:
There’s many people under the age of 30 in Illinois unemployed or underemployed. Let’s hand to Mike Madigan’s son for making VP by the age of 26! He must be so much smarter and harder working than thousands of others!
- Willie Stark - Thursday, Aug 23, 12 @ 2:00 pm:
Strangely left out of the story was whether or not the municipalities saved money or reduced their costs by using Mesirow. Our intrepid reporters and their editors must have just forgotten to check on that picayune detail; they surely wouldn’t have failed to include that information otherwise. If the Pulitzer Committee have a category for “Hackery in the Service of a Partisan Cause” it may be hard for even the swells at the WSJ to top this one.
- Steve Bartin - Thursday, Aug 23, 12 @ 2:04 pm:
As long as Mike Madigan is in power ( because Illinois voting don’t believe in term limits) all his relatives are fair game.
- OMP - Thursday, Aug 23, 12 @ 2:25 pm:
The Tribune is garbage…can’t wait unit it goes out of business!!! They publish the same story over and over….of course no one is reading it anymore…the people who wrote this story should get a hobby would probably bet better off for them.
- Anon III - Thursday, Aug 23, 12 @ 3:13 pm:
“If a man can’t put his arms around his sons and help them, then what’s the world coming to?” –Richard J. Daley.
Relatives of public office holders selling insurance or real estate is one of the oldest dodges in the book.
The material difference is using a public office for private gain vs. using a private position for private gain.
- Siriusly - Thursday, Aug 23, 12 @ 4:06 pm:
Tribune has the story backwards. Mesirow is the dominant player in this business and was before they hired anyone with clout.
Nobody from the Tribune editorial board ever helped their friend or relative get a job? Really?
- Anonymice - Thursday, Aug 23, 12 @ 4:20 pm:
When someone publishes a story saying that Lisa and Andrew are the powers that be, and Mike is just a puppet, I’ll read past the headline.
- Independent - Thursday, Aug 23, 12 @ 5:05 pm:
I can’t put it any better than this:
“If Andrew and his father would merely submit themselves for questions by reporters representing a deserving public, maybe they could persuade us that all measures are being taken to prevent conflicts of interest. Refusing to answer questions only deepens suspicions that once again we are witnessing Illinois politics as usual, led by the chairman of the state Democratic Party.”
http://www.beachwoodreporter.com/politics/the_speakers_son.php
- Yellow Dog Democrat - Thursday, Aug 23, 12 @ 5:25 pm:
I’m sure Mesirow and Andrew Madigan appreciate the free advertising.
His phone is probably ringing off the hook right now.
- Steve Brown - Thursday, Aug 23, 12 @ 5:32 pm:
Chicago Heights?
Alibis?
How about the company was already doing business with Chicago Heights before he was hired and the Mayor was elected. Trib knew but could not fit it in.
Try that one
- Yellow Dog Democrat - Thursday, Aug 23, 12 @ 6:10 pm:
Like Rich, I think its probably true that The Speaker knows who the mayor of Chicago Heights is.
Unlike Rich, I’m not surprised that the mayor of Chicago Heights doubts that the Speaker could pick him out of a crowd.
I happened to be in Rock Island when Barack Obama was opening his U.S. Senate offices there and stopped by. He did a double take and said “What are you doing here?”
We’d only really met once before and briefly, but he remembered my name, our meeting, and everything else about me.
Of course I was surprised…as we all are when the powerful, rich or mighty take notice of us mere mortals.
But should it really be all that surprising? I mean, I remember meeting Obama, why shouldn’t he remember meeting me?
I think Mayor Gonzalez was simply having a basic human reaction, not offering an “alibi.” The fact is, as I think it was reported in the story, the contract was competitively bid. The mayor’s press folk probably just should have had him stop right there.
- Arthur Andersen - Thursday, Aug 23, 12 @ 7:54 pm:
Mesirow isn’t the only Illinois company to work this way, but in cases like these, I think their actual or perceived clout sometimes detracts from the firm’s overall merit and positive perception. In a time when any given contract award can draw the interest of the Tribbies or the Fibbies, public bodies are going to shy away from even a hint that a bidder clouted their way into a deal.
Having worked with Mesirow insurance folks in the past, I can say that they are usually a strong competitor on the merits. Who they hire and how they market was never a particular concern. I personally worked with Mike Mackey and he was straight-up honest in our dealings.
- Quinn T. Sential - Thursday, Aug 23, 12 @ 9:48 pm:
{Landek said he did not know whether Andrew Madigan was involved when Bridgeview hired Mesirow on Dec. 30, 2010, for a three-year contract worth up to $70,000 per year as the village’s broker on risk management insurance.}
{“If Andrew Madigan was on the team that won the business, he was also on the Mesirow team that lost the health insurance bid,” said Landek, referring to the bids for city employee health insurance that went to another brokerage firm last year. “What does that tell you?”}
It tells me that the Risk Management piece was far more lucrative to Mesirow (and Madigan) and that Landek knows how to put together a structured roll call of insurance brokers.
- sheesh - Thursday, Aug 23, 12 @ 9:52 pm:
how much rice can this family eat..I mean cant the kid go make an honest living somewhere without dad driving the gravy train.
- wordslinger - Friday, Aug 24, 12 @ 7:50 am:
–There’s many people under the age of 30 in Illinois unemployed or underemployed. Let’s hand to Mike Madigan’s son for making VP by the age of 26!–
Gee, Steve, is your life not working out like you dreamed it would?
It must be someone’s fault.
Another victim heard from.