Will County Gazette

State Rep. Anne Stava-Murray (D-Downers Grove) had an I-told-you-so moment recently when she reminded her constituents that despite pressure from her Democratic colleagues, she and 18 other Democratic representatives had successfully voted to remove Rep. Mike Madigan from his House Speaker seat.

Madigan is now facing an indictment on racketeering and bribery charges.

Soon after the indictment was announced, Stava-Murray (D-Downers Grove) on March 2 posted a press release on Facebook issued by the 19 House Democrats who didn't support Madigan for the position of Speaker, with Will County representative Stephanie Kifowit being among them.

"Thirteen months ago, we 19 Democrats made clear to our colleagues that we would not support Michael Madigan for speaker," the statement read. "We knew that our chamber, our state, and our party deserved better leadership and the unfolding corruption scandal would only continue to erode public confidence."

The 22-count indictment returned by a federal grand jury in Chicago accuses Madigan of using his official position to “corruptly solicit and receive personal financial rewards for himself and his associates.”

Federal investigators said that for nearly a decade Madigan led “a criminal enterprise whose purpose was to enhance Madigan’s political power and financial well-being while also generating income for his personal allies and associates.”

The indictment charges that over the years, Madigan, who also served as 22nd District state representative, committeeman for Chicago’s 13th Ward, chairman of both the Illinois Democratic Party and the 13th Ward Democratic Organization and partner at the Chicago law firm of Madigan & Getzendanner, used his positions to “further the goals of the criminal enterprise.”

Close Madigan associate Mike McLain had also been indicted in the case, with authorities alleging that he “carried out illegal activities at Madigan’s behest,” and the two caused various businesses, including the utility company Commonwealth Edison, to “make monetary payments to Madigan’s associates as a reward for their loyalty to him in return for performing little or no legitimate work for the businesses.”

The indictment further accuses Madigan of overseeing multiple schemes for the purposes of reaping the benefits of private legal work unlawfully steered to his law firm, including legal work for those with business ties with the state and city.  

In addition to racketeering and bribery charges, the 79-year-old Madigan faces individual counts of wire fraud and attempted extortion, while McClain, 74, is charged with racketeering conspiracy and individual counts of using interstate facilities in aid of bribery and wire fraud. The indictment was announced by U.S. Attorney for the Northern District John R. Lausch, who said “corruption by an elected official and his associates undermines the public’s confidence in our government. The indictment alleges a long-term, multifaceted scheme to use public positions for unlawful private gain.”

In 2018, Stava-Murray told the Chicago Sun-Times that she was warned by several other Democratic legislators that not voting for Madigan as House Speaker would lead to “retaliations” against her.

Then in her first year of representing the 81st District, Stava-Murray said her reason for not supporting Madigan stemmed from his mishandling of sexual harassment allegations.

Madigan joins a long list of top-ranking Illinois officials to face indictment while in office, joining former Gov. Rod Blagojevich, Gov. George Ryan, U.S. Rep. Dan Rostenkowski and Gov. Dan Walker.