* Lot of sizzle in this lede…

Illinois House Speaker Michael Madigan’s political organization is again on the defensive — this time over possible links to an accused killer who was involved in a Democratic push to unseat the state’s top House Republican.

Politics and murder don’t typically intersect outside of fiction. But those themes came together in a southwest suburban legislative campaign to topple House Minority Leader Jim Durkin, one of Gov. Bruce Rauner’s top allies.

The Dems put the name of CBOT trader Michael Pelko, who lived in Leader Durkin’s district, on a petition challenge to a male Democrat, Tom Chlystek, running against fellow Democrat Elyse Hoffenberg.

The trader apparently had some local political ambitions, according to WBEZ. In mid-December, just days after filing the challenge, Pelko was busted in Will County on felony charges of retail theft and a misdemeanor charge of battery. A couple of weeks later, longtime DPI attorney Mike Kasper filed paperwork to withdraw Pelko’s challenge. Kasper was handling the challenge against Chlystek.

* Back to the story…

“Mr. Pelko was never affiliated with the 13th Ward organization or any of the speaker’s political organizations,” Madigan spokesman Steve Brown told WBEZ. “Neither the speaker nor Alderman Quinn know Mr. Pelko.”

WBEZ’s evidence to contradict Brown included the fact that then-Madigan chief of staff Tim Mapes inspected Democrat Chlystek’s petitions. But as I’ve already told you, Mapes inspected pretty much all petitions this cycle because the party was building a database of circulators. That database was then used by Local 150 of the Operating Engineers to make sure its circulators for third-party gubernatorial candidate Sam McCann hadn’t passed any sheets for Democrats or Republicans before the primary.

Ms. Hoffenberg’s nominating petitions were notarized by Kevin Quinn, Ald. Marty Quinn’s infamous brother. Again, that was standard operating procedure in that part of the world before Quinn was forced out of his job. Rep. Marty Moylan gave her campaign $10,000 in early January, another strong indication of where the HDems stood.

So, yeah, it’s pretty clear that the HDems were backing Hoffenberg in an attempt to challenge Leader Durkin in the fall…

[Sen. Steve Landek, D-Bridgeview], a Madigan confidante and Lyons Township Democratic committeeman, said the order to challenge Chlystek’s nominating petitions came from the state Democratic Party, and the local political organization responded by suggesting Pelko as an objector.

Pelko’s only two political contributions, $400 each, were to Landek’s Bridgeview political organization.

* But it turns out that the trader is alleged to have killed a guy last year and he was charged in January…

A trader at the Chicago Board of Trade has been charged with shooting his longtime friend and leaving his body in the South Side Washington Park neighborhood last summer.

Izat Morrar’s body was found about 3:50 p.m. on July 20, 2017 in an alley in the 5300 block of South Calumet. He suffered two gunshot wounds to the head at close range, authorities said.

Oops.

* And then WBEZ turned to election law attorney Michael Dorf for comment. If you want some history between Dorf and Kasper/Madigan, click here. They’re not exactly buddies, and it shows…

Dorf said the lack of vetting in the Pelko case leaves a blemish on Madigan and the state Democratic Party, particularly given all of the upheaval that has existed this year as the speaker has been forced to clean house because of sexual harassment and bullying allegations within his inner circle.

“This is a huge embarrassment. This is the drip, drip, drip that’s just wearing away the stone. I can’t believe that if they were paying attention, they’d have allowed something like this to happen,” Dorf said.

I dunno. Dude is a CBOT trader, so he probably has some money and wants to get into local politics. They ask him for a favor. He complies. And then… KABOOM! The guy turns out to be an alleged murderer. Even his own family was shocked. I’m not sure what vetting woulda found.

* But Leader Durkin surely has to be bursting at the seams with schadenfreude this morning. The HDems went after him and wound up being connected to an alleged murderer.

*** UPDATE *** Rauner campaign…

Mike Madigan’s political organization is once again embroiled in scandal and controversy after it was revealed that top Madigan lieutenants assisted and collaborated with an alleged murderer, months after he committed the crime.

Instead of coming clean about unknowingly associating with a suspected killer , Madigan’s spokespeople denied any involvement with Michael Pelko’s petition challenge that aided a Democratic candidate in a legislative race. But WBEZ’s reportin g directly refutes their denials. Key figures in Madigan’s organization, including Tim Mapes and Kevin Quinn, assisted Pelko by reviewing the petitions at the center of his challenge. Longtime Madigan ally Michael Kasper represented Pelko before the State Board of Elections. It is just the latest example of questionable people working in and around Madigan’s operation.

Madigan’s political arm has repeatedly proven that they will do what is required to keep the Machine running and keep Madigan in power, even if it means misrepresenting the truth.