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* Dan Petrella and Jamie Munks at the Tribune…
Illinois House Speaker Michael Madigan’s main campaign fund paid nearly $462,000 in legal fees in the first three months of 2020 to a law firm that employs former Chicago Mayor Richard M. Daley, new campaign finance records show.
Federal investigators over the past year have raided the homes of two close Madigan associates, and the Tribune reported late last year that four people who have been interviewed as part of an ongoing corruption probe were asked questions about the speaker and his political operation. […]
“The fees represent legal counsel engaged over the past year to monitor ongoing investigations,” Madigan spokeswoman Eileen Boyce wrote in an email late Wednesday. “The speaker’s status with respect to any probe remains unchanged, and he expects to continue to engage counsel to monitor the situation and provide counsel until investigations conclude.”
Friends of Michael J. Madigan paid $461,967.80 in legal fees to law firm Katten Muchin Rosenman in the quarter that ended March 31, according to a quarterly campaign disclosure filed with the Illinois State Board of Elections on Wednesday just ahead of the midnight deadline.
Madigan has used Katten before, but only for a handful of items. Almost all of its legal work for Madigan has been during the first three months of this year. Needless to say, $462K is a lot of money just to “monitor ongoing investigations.” Katten has a white-collar criminal defense division.
Katten appears to be the only law firm paid by Speaker Madigan in the first quarter. His personal campaign committee shelled out more than $1.2 million in legal fees last year, mostly to Kulwin, Masciopinto & Kulwin (Alaina Hampton’s attorneys) and Hinshaw & Culbertson.
posted by Rich Miller
Thursday, Apr 16, 20 @ 11:06 am
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$462,000 could buy a lot of PPE’s
Comment by Frumpy white guy Thursday, Apr 16, 20 @ 11:32 am
At a $600/hr. rate, that’s 770 hours of work. That’s a heck of a lot of “monitoring.” Clearly they were doing some serious work. Fascinating to ponder what they’ve been doing for 770 hours.
Comment by Chicago Cynic Thursday, Apr 16, 20 @ 11:36 am
I agree that is a lot of monitoring.
Comment by Ron Burgundy Thursday, Apr 16, 20 @ 11:38 am
That’s a lot of money to pay to have someone stand around and watch somebody else work. I guess you need to know somebody to get the gig.
Comment by Pundent Thursday, Apr 16, 20 @ 11:40 am
Madigan will be ok when this is all over. His only “sin” is that he was too loyal to political hacks who lack morals and ethics.
Comment by the Edge Thursday, Apr 16, 20 @ 11:44 am
-His only “sin” is that he was too loyal to political hacks who lack morals and ethics.-
That’s how George Ryan started too.
Comment by Ron Burgundy Thursday, Apr 16, 20 @ 11:46 am
Chicago Cynic beat me to it. Breaking the figure down sheds a lot of light on the breadth of the legal work. Whether their billable hourly rate is $600 or $1,000, Katten would have had to have spent over 450 hours of time on this. Think about that for a minute. Having an associate print news clips ain’t gonna add up to that kind of dough.
Comment by Boone's is Back Thursday, Apr 16, 20 @ 11:46 am
I’m just glad that my profession and my life don’t incur those kinds of legal bills when I haven’t done anything wrong.
Comment by Occasional Quipper Thursday, Apr 16, 20 @ 11:53 am
=Having an associate print news clips ain’t gonna add up to that kind of dough.=
well, if you add the research and planning required to find said news clips, save and format them, you could get to an hour before even reading the dang thing.
Comment by big law is a grift Thursday, Apr 16, 20 @ 11:53 am
Can somebody explain to me what monitoring ongoing investigations has to do with campaigning?
Comment by Streator Curmudgeon Thursday, Apr 16, 20 @ 12:02 pm
“monitor” could mean much more than watching and researching.
Comment by Amalia Thursday, Apr 16, 20 @ 12:16 pm
.
Looking at these bills, I think the lawyers involved have done a great job of “monitoring”. Must be an awful lot of “monitoring” to do.
The virus must have slowed down the investigation process to a crawl since January. Just processing the people who have already entered a plea and are cooperating have to be keeping the FBI working hard.
Comment by Back to the Future Thursday, Apr 16, 20 @ 12:24 pm
–Can somebody explain to me what monitoring ongoing investigations has to do with campaigning?–
If you get nailed by an investigation, you can’t campaign any more. /s
Comment by Ron Burgundy Thursday, Apr 16, 20 @ 12:29 pm
Also - Anyone see that Tom Cullerton and Martin Sandoval had their “Contributions” to the Senate Democratic Victory Fund refunded by $32K & $50K respectively - both then used for significant legal fees. BTW - Searched for the Senate Democratic Victory Fund via the State Board of elections - could not find it. Help if you can
Comment by Former Candidate on the Ballot Thursday, Apr 16, 20 @ 12:41 pm
I’m mike Madigan and I approve of this ad.
Comment by Donnie Elgin Thursday, Apr 16, 20 @ 12:45 pm
Here is the former Cullerton-led Senate Dem Committee that officially terminated yesterday:
https://www.elections.il.gov/CampaignDisclosure/CommitteeDetail.aspx?ID=KyfBdG88IFrsELqKUlGNXQ%3d%3d
Here is the link for the new Harmon-led Senate Democrat Committee:
https://www.elections.il.gov/CampaignDisclosure/CommitteeDetail.aspx?ID=wmWOG5swUgPwLT9MN18D%2fg%3d%3d
Comment by Oak Parker Thursday, Apr 16, 20 @ 12:49 pm
Thank you Oak Parker - a lot of good stuff in their as they were closing out!!
Comment by Former Candidate on the Ballot Thursday, Apr 16, 20 @ 1:09 pm
Here’s a another way to look at this.
First quarter defined is 3 months of a 2000 work year, so let’s estimate that is 650 hours of work.. that’s high of $700 an hour. Does any level of partner, attorney, associate or paralegal bill out at this rate, in this law firm? Or are there several people working full/part time on this?
And what the what are they researching?
Comment by 618er Thursday, Apr 16, 20 @ 1:45 pm
… or monitoring?
Comment by 618er Thursday, Apr 16, 20 @ 1:45 pm
“Madigan will be ok when this is all over. His only “sin” is that he was too loyal to political hacks who lack morals and ethics.“
You go with that.
Comment by Chicago Cynic Thursday, Apr 16, 20 @ 1:46 pm
A Katten partner would bill more than $700 an hour.
Comment by Centennial Thursday, Apr 16, 20 @ 1:57 pm
–Here’s a another way to look at this.
First quarter defined is 3 months of a 2000 work year, so let’s estimate that is 650 hours of work.. that’s high of $700 an hour. Does any level of partner, attorney, associate or paralegal bill out at this rate, in this law firm? Or are there several people working full/part time on this?
And what the what are they researching?
I guarantee that there are many, many, many lawyers at Katten that bill at rates far in excess of $700 per hour. $700 would be the rate for, roughly, a senior associate.
Comment by Anon Thursday, Apr 16, 20 @ 4:11 pm
That’s like having the entire Island Bay Yacht Club event proceeds going directly to the legal tab
Comment by west wing Thursday, Apr 16, 20 @ 4:46 pm
The Democrats watching out for the little guy by spending hundreds of thousands of dollars to keep their corrupt leader out of the cross hairs of a Federal investigation for his decades of leading a corrupt organization. Their beloved leader who under his awesome guidance of the party has seen decades of sham balanced budgets, worst financed pension and retiree healthcare system in the US, the worst credit rating of any state and no guidance for solving any of these problems. So tell me again how this man has been good for the average taxpayer in Illinois.
Comment by Arock Friday, Apr 17, 20 @ 8:14 am