Photo credit: Nam Y. Huh
By Jim Talamonti | The Center Square
One day before the Illinois General Assembly’s fall veto session is scheduled to begin, one of the most powerful lawmakers in state history is headed to prison.
Michael J. Madigan, D-Chicago, served in the Illinois House from 1971 to 2021 and was speaker for all but two years between 1983 and 2021. He chaired the Democratic Party of Illinois for 23 years and led Chicago’s 13th Ward Democratic Organization.
A federal judge sentenced Madigan to 7.5 years in prison and ordered him to pay a fine of $2.5 million earlier this year, after a jury convicted the former speaker on 10 counts of bribery, conspiracy, wire fraud and use of a facility to promote unlawful activity.
Judge John Robert Blakey presided over the trial of Madigan and codefendant Michael McClain. Blakey also sentenced Madigan and ordered the former speaker to report to prison at 2 p.m. Monday, Oct. 13.
Brian Gaines, Honorable W. Russell Arrington professor in State Politics at the University of Illinois, said he did not think Madigan would end up behind bars.
“I always thought he was a master of control and someone who had figured out just how to tiptoe along the lines of legality but stay on the right side,” Gaines told The Center Square.
More here.