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Madigan’s legal tab nears $6.8 million

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Illinois

* Rachel Hinton at the Sun-Times…

Mike Madigan has spent over $2.7 million on lawyers so far this year alone.

The Southwest Side Democrat is no longer the speaker of the Illinois House, a state representative or leader of the state Democratic Party.

But he’s still Public Official A, the name given to him in a federal document that implicates him in a long bribery scheme that ended his political career — and continues to cost him in legal fees.

A total of $6,798,304.20 to be precise.

That’s because the latest $2,744,828.83 comes on top of $4,053,475.37 Madigan had already shelled out to lawyers since early 2018, a total that included fighting lawsuits filed by former political rivals and other legal troubles.

I went over this with subscribers earlier today, so I’ll just leave it at that. Go read the rest of Rachel’s piece for more.

posted by Rich Miller
Friday, Apr 16, 21 @ 9:36 am

Comments

Four year tussle with Trump Dept of Justice inspired event goes on

Comment by Annobib' Friday, Apr 16, 21 @ 9:54 am
The instructions at the bingo parlor got fouled up.

Comment by Monday Morning Lawyer Friday, Apr 16, 21 @ 10:01 am
Not quite that simple to pin this as a partisan with hunt by the Trump Justice Department but nice try.

“The FBI has a secretly recorded conversation from that Aug. 18, 2014 meeting between Madigan and the would-be client at his property tax law firm, the Sun-Times reports.”

https://news.wttw.com/2019/01/29/danny-solis-fbi-recording-michael-madigan

Comment by Lucky Pierre Friday, Apr 16, 21 @ 10:06 am
I wonder how long it will take to drain his funds?

Comment by Fav Human Friday, Apr 16, 21 @ 10:09 am
Assume the high average rate of $500.00 per billable hour, that comes to 13,597 hours.

That’s a whole lot of defendin going on.

Comment by don the legend Friday, Apr 16, 21 @ 10:22 am
Love how this is still considered a public use of campaign funds. Maybe with him gone the GA will finally consider limiting the use of campaign funds to only cover legal fees of the COMMITTEE instead of the candidate’s legal problems

Comment by shocked Friday, Apr 16, 21 @ 10:47 am
== Assume the high average rate of $500.00 per billable hour, that comes to 13,597 hours. ===

$500 is not a high average rate — that’s modest. This is Katten. More likely $1500 an hour with a team of 4-5 lawyers.

There’s a reason there’s a revolving door from the US Attorneys office to white collar defense firms.

Comment by Blurry Friday, Apr 16, 21 @ 11:16 am
Blurry. $500.00 or $1,500.00 an hour. I guess it’s worth it if there are no apples in prison.

Comment by don the legend Friday, Apr 16, 21 @ 12:48 pm
He’s got the cash for it.

That’s a lotta dough to stave off… whatever it is staving off means.

Comment by Oswego Willy Friday, Apr 16, 21 @ 3:16 pm