Madigan

Illinois needs to check projects if Madigan was involved

Published by admin on Sat, 03/12/2022 - 10:19am

For decades, House Speaker Michael Madigan and everyone around him insisted that the man was always very scrupulous and extremely careful about not only the language that he used, but the language he allowed to be used in his presence.
For instance, if a property tax client of his law firm began to speak about legislation they were interested in, Madigan insisted he would immediately stop the conversation in its tracks and inform the client that he could do nothing for them. And nobody else ever said otherwise.

Indictment of Madigan’s chief of staff is all about the timing

Published by admin on Mon, 05/31/2021 - 1:58pm

When reading last week's indictment of Tim Mapes, it's important to remember that federal prosecutors have been trying to prove that his old boss, former House Speaker Michael Madigan, was directing the effort to allegedly "bribe" him with favors.
Madigan's longtime chief of staff was indicted May 26 for allegedly lying to a federal grand jury and attempting to obstruct the grand jury's corruption investigation.

Energy reform bill a minefield for lawmakers

Published by admin on Sun, 05/09/2021 - 10:38am

The state legislators negotiating the new massive energy reform bill were said to have made real progress at their Tuesday working group meeting last week.
Shortly before that meeting began, a legislator who is a longtime union ally and is involved in the talks told me the consensus was that "a pound of flesh" would have to be extracted from Exelon, which wants more subsidies for two nuclear power plants and has been under a dark ethics cloud as the US Attorney's office probes its and its subsidiary ComEd's Statehouse activities.

Massive change is happening in Springfield

Published by admin on Sat, 03/27/2021 - 9:34am

Since 2006, federal law has capped annual interest rates on payday loans to active duty military members at 36 percent. The interest rate cap was broadened in 2015 to include several more types of personal, unsecured loans.
In Illinois, meanwhile, payday loan borrowers have been subjected to average annual interest rates of close to 300 percent.
Illinois lawmakers tried to tackle this issue in 2005, and passed a rate cap that was widely heralded. But the industry took advantage of a gaping loophole and then kept right on with their business.

New House Speaker so far doing what Madigan didn’t

Published by admin on Sat, 01/30/2021 - 12:17pm

Just a couple of weeks into a job that most people couldn't imagine being held by anyone other than the guy who had it for decades, Illinois House Speaker Chris Welch is putting together a House that looks both familiar and different at the same time.
Welch's first week included a rollout of his new leadership team, with a Black woman as Speaker Pro Tempore and fresh faces throughout. By the third week, we'll see committee membership rosters and vice chairs. The following week will be the new rules.

New Speaker says Illinois House is ‘back in business’

Published by admin on Sun, 01/24/2021 - 12:28pm

House Speaker Michael Madigan avoided calling the General Assembly back into session during the pandemic for several reasons, many of them having to do with himself.
But Speaker Welch told me earlier this month that "The legislature is back in business. We're going to work in 2021."

The days of voters not caring about Madigan are over

Published by admin on Thu, 12/24/2020 - 1:04pm

I reached out to several House Democrats who could be considered politically vulnerable in 2022 to ask them how they plan to vote on Speaker Michael Madigan's reelection in January.
With one exception, I didn't make much headway.
Much has been made about the number of Democratic women who have said they will not vote to reelect the longtime House Speaker. That's true, but it isn't yet a universal opinion.

Feds indict Madigan’s closest associates

Published by admin on Sun, 11/22/2020 - 10:33am

On Page 9 of last week's federal indictment of four people accused of conspiring to bribe House Speaker Michael Madigan with favors from ComEd is this heading: "Defendants and Relevant Individuals."
But the first person listed is not one of the defendants. "Public Official A was the Speaker of the House of Representatives," the list begins.

Madigan was quick to fire others, but not himself

Published by admin on Sun, 07/26/2020 - 11:25am

A couple of days after the July 17 disclosures in ComEd's deferred prosecution agreement with the U.S. Attorney's office, House Speaker Michael Madigan called individual House Democrats to try and reassure them that all would be well.
According to multiple legislators, the House Speaker told his members that he had done nothing wrong and that he never did things like recommend unqualified people for jobs, and fully expected that if they were hired, they would actually show up for work.

Told you so: Harold says she’ll be a watchdog of Madigan, Pritzker

Published by admin on Sat, 10/27/2018 - 10:44am

 

"I'll be a check on the Pritzker-Madigan agenda," Republican attorney general candidate Erika Harold said in her latest TV ad about Democratic gubernatorial frontrunner JB Pritzker and Illinois House Speaker Michael Madigan.