Mike Madigan knew for a very long time that the US Attorney’s office and the FBI badly wanted to put his head on a spike.
It was no secret. Everybody knew it. Madigan was investigated over and over again, but nothing ever came of it.
“This was a guy they wanted to go after, and they gathered as much as they could against him and something stuck,” the Madigan/McClain jury foreman told the Chicago Tribune.
After the now-pardoned Rod Blagojevich was arrested by the feds in a pre-dawn raid on unseemly corruption charges and was impeached by Madigan’s House, then-Lt. Gov. Pat Quinn appointed a blue-ribbon committee to recommend ethics changes, chaired by former Assistant US Attorney Patrick Collins, who’d helped put George Ryan in prison.
Madigan had been convinced that Blagojevich was a crook for several years. The House Speaker, for instance, would never agree to a major capital plan because he believed the governor and his pals would try to put their grubby paws on every dollar.
But instead of focusing mainly on the executive branch – which had seen the indictments of two governors in a row by that time – the former prosecutor Collins’ commission focused quite significant attention on the General Assembly, and on Madigan in particular.
Most folks just figured that Mike Madigan had avoided the long arm of federal law by being extra careful. And he may have been. But the arrogance of immense power apparently overrode his sense of self-preservation.
He paid a big price last week – two days after Blagojevich received a full pardon from President Donald Trump. Try to put that in a movie and they’d tell you it just wasn’t believable.
The jury believed the prosecution’s (persuasive) arguments that Madigan knew of the move to put the Speaker’s cronies into do-nothing ComEd-related jobs (four counts). Madigan’s insanely unwise decision to associate himself with the widely known scumbag Danny Solis got him guilty verdicts on six more counts.
Madigan was convicted on ten of 23 charges. It’s possible that Madigan, 82, could spend the rest of his life in prison, while Blagojevich may end up serving as the US Ambassador to Serbia.
A few more points:
• The federal government’s much-ballyhooed RICO charge against Mike Madigan and Mike McClain was rejected by jurors 11-1, the jury foreman told some Chicago news media outlets. The foreman told the Tribune that it was part of a “government overreach” against Madigan. The feds almost never lose racketeering cases, but most jurors apparently bought the defense argument that the US Attorney was prosecuting the Mike Madigan “myth” instead of Mike Madigan the man.
• I really thought the G had Madigan cold on the Chinatown thing. They had Madigan on tape numerous times talking with Solis and his consigliere Mike McClain about a land-transfer bill to help a favored developer buy a Chinatown parking lot and build a hotel and how that would result in a new law firm client.
But 10 out of 12 jurors apparently bought the argument that Madigan’s longtime property tax law partner Bud Getzendanner had the final say over who would become a client, and that he would never approve a new client with state land transfer issues before the House.
• Two federal trials have now directly addressed the AT&T charges. Both trials have resulted in hung juries on this topic.
Back in October of 2022, AT&T paid $23 million and entered into a deferred prosecution agreement “to resolve a federal criminal investigation into alleged misconduct involving the company’s efforts to unlawfully influence (Madigan),” the Justice Department declared at the time.
The feds put former AT&T Illinois president Paul La Schiazza on trial, but the jury was unable to convict.
Madigan and McClain were also charged with participating in a bribery scheme in which La Schiazza hired former Rep. Eddie Acevedo (D-Chicago) for a no-show job to help the company pass a bill to exempt the company from having to provide universal landline service. The jury hung 10-2 in favor of acquittal.
The AT&T provision was included in an omnibus bill that had been painstakingly devised over a period of years, had bipartisan support and backing from organized labor, and, most importantly, was part of a 2017 effort to test whether Republicans would help break the notorious Bruce Rauner budget impasse, because the bill also included a 911 call center service fee increases. The bill passed, Rauner’s veto was overridden, and a budget was approved shortly thereafter.
On this point, the feds truly did go after the myth and not the facts.
- Frumpy White Guy - Tuesday, Feb 18, 25 @ 8:36 am:
Does the Feb. 10 executive order from Trump pausing enforcement of the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act. Impact the Madigan verdict?
- Three Dimensional Checkers - Tuesday, Feb 18, 25 @ 8:54 am:
A man should know when to leave the party.
- Mister Ed - Tuesday, Feb 18, 25 @ 8:56 am:
I agree we are living in a strange time, sadly it is going to get worse for those with no influence. Politics makes strange bedfellows, and this is not even the tip of the iceberg.
- Norseman - Tuesday, Feb 18, 25 @ 9:08 am:
Strange is one way to put it. Add the piece in Isabel’s morning brief about Madigan’s and McClain’s attorneys using a Trump EO as a defense now.
- Donnie Elgin - Tuesday, Feb 18, 25 @ 9:19 am:
=Most folks just figured that Mike Madigan had avoided the long arm of federal law by being extra careful. And he may have been. But the arrogance of immense power apparently overrode his sense of self-preservation=
This may be true, but what’s also true to me is that there is no honor in building a power base via criminal behavior or being good at covering up crimes. He was crooked for decades, he is now disgraced and he got what he deserved. Hopefully, his downfall will be an example to current and future public servants to walk the line and act in good faith
- Anyone Remember - Tuesday, Feb 18, 25 @ 9:26 am:
Same US Appeals Court district, different state, same metro area - wonder if Madigan verdicts / juror statements have Northwest Indiana federal prosecutors reconsidering Snyder’s some / all of Snyder’s charges.
- Capcitynewt - Tuesday, Feb 18, 25 @ 9:35 am:
sadly it is going to get worse for those with no influence
Sadly, unless you’re an Illinois republican, right?
- Friendly Bob Adams - Tuesday, Feb 18, 25 @ 9:38 am:
I’ve thought for a long time that federal trials with dozens of charges encourage juries to find the defendant guilty of at least some of them. After all, they’ve got to be guilty of something, or they wouldn’t be on trial, right?
It’s stacking the deck in favor of the prosecution. My thought is the feds should charge the individual with the most serious one or two charges and take their chances.
- Payback - Tuesday, Feb 18, 25 @ 10:22 am:
“This was a guy they wanted to go after, and they gathered as much as they could against him and something stuck,” the Madigan/McClain jury foreman told the Chicago Tribune.” So true. I love the common sense from this Joe Six-Pack. Save the RICO charges for the wiseguys who killed Allan Dorfman at the Purple Hyatt. Madigan is not a gangster.
Meanwhile, has the crew of postmodern Untouchables under Morris Pasqual investigated anyone outside Cook county in the past twenty years?
- DuPage Saint - Tuesday, Feb 18, 25 @ 10:51 am:
Friendly Bob Adams is absolutely correct. Feds always overcharge in my opinion. And juries often figure he must be guilty of something otherwise why is he here?
And it always is and will be worse for those with no influence
- Lincoln Lad - Tuesday, Feb 18, 25 @ 10:55 am:
MJM killed careers, not people. The fact he wasn’t convicted of racketeering is because many people who could have helped make that case either weren’t asked, or didn’t tell what they knew to the feds. The case was there, but the feds didn’t make their case. People kept their mouths shut.
- Rich Miller - Tuesday, Feb 18, 25 @ 10:58 am:
===People kept their mouths shut===
lol
RICO was designed to put away mobsters, who take omerta to an extreme. The success rate at RICO trials is 98-99 percent. Prosecutors basically never lose those cases.
- Rudy’s teeth - Tuesday, Feb 18, 25 @ 11:05 am:
NWI federal prosecutors and Snyder’s charges. The former Sheriff of Lake County sits in a federal prison for accepting bribes to send county business to certain vendors.
The Sidewalk for Votes scandal in East Chicago resulted in fines for the mayor and aides to the tune of $108M. Back in East Chicago, the City Attorney was gunned down leaving a fundraiser attended by 400. Of course, there were no witnesses.
NWI federal prosecutors have a long history to peruse as they more forward with Snyder’s charges.
- JS Mill - Tuesday, Feb 18, 25 @ 11:18 am:
= he is now disgraced and he got what he deserved.=
Meh. When you support a convicted felon for president you don’t get to take the high road for any convictions.
- levivotedforjudy - Tuesday, Feb 18, 25 @ 11:19 am:
If you interfaced with the GA as a lobbyist/advocate or worked with them as an administration rep., you had a really good sense of what was going on and that the IL legislative process did not work like most states. I was surprised McClain slipped through this one. But from a bigger perspective, I thought what was “right vs. wrong” was settled a long time ago. The Blago slate-cleaning now makes that debatable.
- Joe Bidenopolous - Tuesday, Feb 18, 25 @ 11:22 am:
I saw in Isabel’s morning brief that the jury foreman said, “I did not want to find him guilty of anything.”
I’m not a lawyer so asking those who are - can that be a basis for appeal?
- Steve - Tuesday, Feb 18, 25 @ 11:33 am:
Mike Madigan going up on the stand probably saved him on some of the counts in the eyes of the jury. Madigan has a big problem now. The jury deliberated, they found him guilty on several counts, innocent on some and a hung jury on some. The appelate court most likely will say he got a fair trial because the jury took their job seriously and came to a conclusion. 10 felonies is nothing to sneeze at. Madigan will have to do a lot of praying to get the Ed Burke deal. Don’t be surprised if he get sentenced to anywhere from 4 to 7 years. He could die in jail even without a RICO conviction at his age. Or he go to jail and come out like Bill Hanhardt who didn’t die in jail.
- JR - Tuesday, Feb 18, 25 @ 11:49 am:
As a Madigan Minion, I’d wager him not serving time for the ten felonies.
I wonder if CapFax will run a ‘just for fun’ betting pool or poll on this.
- Rabid - Tuesday, Feb 18, 25 @ 1:13 pm:
10 out of 29 charges stick, about 30% successful. It was all ComEd. The walking camera microphone accomplished nothing.