Capitol Fax.com - Your Illinois News Radar


Latest Post | Last 10 Posts | Archives


Previous Post: Today’s quotable: Joe Mansueto
Next Post: Uber’s Local Partnership = Stress-Free Travel For Paratransit Riders

Madigan’s fall from power

Posted in:

* Hannah Meisel

A steady drip of news leaks during the summer of 2019 began to outline a criminal probe with Madigan at its center, though indictments and highly visible FBI raids of other state and local elected Democrats later that summer and fall muddied the emerging picture.

And as General Assembly members settled back into the Capitol for their two-week fall veto session, the powerful speaker was dealing with fallout from the latest action taken by the feds against a prominent new target. Hours earlier, a member of Madigan’s House Democratic leadership team had been hauled into court after his arrest on a charge that he bribed a sitting state senator who happened to be cooperating with the FBI.

In a rare – and brief – availability with reporters in the crowded and noisy hallway off the Statehouse rotunda, the longtime speaker said he would take steps for House members to expel the representative from the body if he did not resign.

But quickly, the questions turned to why Madigan’s name had shown up in subpoenas made public after the spate of recent FBI searches and if he’d been contacted by the feds –which the speaker met with shrugs and a flat “no.” In response to a reporter asking whether he was a target of the investigation, Madigan issued a categorical denial.

“No, I’m not a target of anything,” he said.

Go read the rest.

* Meanwhile, Madigan’s trial should finally start next week…


Judge John Blakey's goal is for opening statements in the trial of ex-IL House Speaker Michael J. Madigan to kick off around 12:30 p.m. Monday.

But they still need two alternates. We'll see what happens.

Trial is in recess until Monday. https://t.co/sxauTg8Est

— Jon Seidel (@SeidelContent) October 17, 2024

posted by Rich Miller
Friday, Oct 18, 24 @ 12:28 pm

Comments

  1. Had he only stepped down to make way for Lisa to run for governor, none of this would have happened. Lisa was very popular - still is - even among progressives who always viewed the old man w suspicion. It didnt have to be like this but I guess he just couldnt envision life not being speaker. Like his mentor Richard J. Daley, perhaps he pictured himself staying on for the rest of his natural life.

    Comment by low level Friday, Oct 18, 24 @ 2:04 pm

  2. “If I should fall from grace with God
    Where no doctor can relieve me

    If I’m buried in the sod
    But the angels won’t receive me

    Let me go, boys, let me go, boys
    Let me go down in the mud, where the rivers all run dry”

    Shane McGowan

    Comment by 47th Ward Friday, Oct 18, 24 @ 2:11 pm

  3. Also Shane MacGowan:
    “We watched our friends grow up together
    And we saw them as they fell
    Some of them fell into Heaven
    Some of them fell into Hell”

    Comment by West Side the Best Side Friday, Oct 18, 24 @ 3:11 pm

  4. Whatever one thinks of Madigan (my lasting memory is he & David Vaught being stumped by Raymond Poe), the notion he’s guilty yet former VA Gov. Bob McDonnell’s $170K in gratuities are legal beggars belief … :(

    Comment by Anyone Remember Friday, Oct 18, 24 @ 3:54 pm

Add a comment

Sorry, comments are closed at this time.

Previous Post: Today’s quotable: Joe Mansueto
Next Post: Uber’s Local Partnership = Stress-Free Travel For Paratransit Riders


Last 10 posts:

more Posts (Archives)

WordPress Mobile Edition available at alexking.org.

powered by WordPress.