The Chicago Way
-
tl;dr version:
Mike Madigan has been Speaker of the House in Illinois for decades, since 1983 (other than one two year stint) in fact. He and his cronies have been investigated many times for various forms of corruption (bribery, etc). Many of his associates have gone down, but somehow, Madigan has escaped. For the last two years, John Lausch, US Attorney, has been investigating him. The noose, from what I gather has been tightening, and Madigan is no longer speaker.
U.S. attorney John Lausch is prosecuting close confidants of Democrat boss Mike Madigan, an ally of former president Barack Obama who resigned from the state legislature Thursday after a decades-long reign in Springfield. Lausch's office will also prosecute Chicago alderman Edward Burke (D.), an influential figure accused of strong-arming businesses into retaining his law firm.
Lausch's abrupt removal has drawn bipartisan criticism from Illinois lawmakers who say he should be allowed to finish his work or depart on a longer timeline to ensure an orderly transition. The president asked all Trump-appointed U.S. attorneys to resign by the end of February but allowed two to remain in place to conclude politically sensitive work.
Prosecutors accused an Illinois utility giant, Commonwealth Edison, of providing payments, subcontracts, and no-show jobs to Madigan allies as a reward for favorable legislative action. An unnamed lobbyist described the arrangement as an "old-fashioned patronage system" in a 2019 meeting with ComEd personnel, according to legal filings.
ComEd cut a deal with Lausch's office in July 2020, agreeing to turn over reams of evidence and pay a $200 million fine. The utility giant described its scheme in detail in a deferred prosecution agreement, admitting that it provided "jobs, vendor subcontracts, and monetary payments" to Madigan loyalists "even in instances where certain political allies and workers performed little or no work that they were purportedly hired to perform for ComEd."
Madigan has not yet been indicted, but remains at the very center of the probe, identified repeatedly in court papers as "Public Official A." A former legislator and longtime Madigan confidant, Michael McClain, has been charged in connection with the scheme, as have two top ComEd executives and a consultant.
The matter is ongoing and complex, so getting Lausch's successor up to speed will be a daunting challenge on its own. A grand jury impaneled for the case in January 2019 was hearing evidence as late as December 2020, according to local press.
Lawmakers in both parties have raised concerns that Lausch's removal would disrupt the ComEd probe. Sens. Dick Durbin (D., Ill.) and Tammy Duckworth (D., Ill.) said Lausch should remain in place until his successor is confirmed by the Senate, a move supported by Illinois's five Republican congressmen. The GOP lawmakers emphasized that the scope of the investigation is "historic" in a Feb. 9 statement.
