Boss Madigan Goes Down

By John Kass

February 16, 2025

Old Texas Rangers don’t have much in common with Chicago politicians convicted of federal corruption charges on their way to prison, or broken down old newspapermen, but my friend Tom Bevan called me to talk of Boss Madigan’s recent conviction on Bevan’s RealClear Politics podcast.

Unfortunately, I forgot to tell him about the ruthless Mexican bandit Pablo Flores.

We talked of Madigan, his meticulous attention to detail, and the corrupt nature of Illinois itself after decades of crooked Republican and Democrat rule. I call this bipartisan corruption by its own special name: the Combine. And the Chicago Way is the Washington Way. Each place is politically corrupt. And the economic wasteland of Illinois is corrupt to the core. Even the Illinois little league is corrupt. Consider that the national media darlings of the 2014 was an Illinois team, the Jackie Robinson West little league team. And Jackie Robinson was stripped of its world championship for cheating.

But now as I sit down to write about Boss Madigan and what his political life and criminal conviction are all about, I’m struck by many conflicting thoughts. He was the longest serving state house speaker in the country, and for at least 40 of those years he controlled all legislation and state judicial appointments. And I’m a bit sad. And eager. The death of the ruthless rustler and horse thief Pedro Flores in the great American novel “Lonesome Dove” comes to mind. It weighs heavy.

Here’s why: Upon learning of Flores’ death, his rival and Texas Ranger Woodrow Call seems confused, even lost. Call’s friend Gus notes that “you’ve run out of Indians and now you’ve run out of bandits. That’s the point. You need someone to outwit.” He’d lost his purpose.

I didn’t want to outwit Boss Madigan; I wanted him there, standing, strong, to fight against. And I don’t think I’m a Texas Ranger in a great novel. Or a Marvel Comic weirdo. But I loved the contest against the Chicago politicians. I thought of hardworking neighborhood people I grew up with, folks who’d been  taught to doff their caps the way their grandparents and parents doffed caps and bent the knee in Europe. It wasn’t even Madigan himself whom I opposed.

I opposed the Combine, the insular corruption of Illinois, the crooked lawyers, and especially the corrupt journalism of Springfield and Chicago that fawned over Boss Madigan and other political leaders over the decades, all those Combine jackals and hyenas laughing. It fed hopelessness and profound cynicism of the people.

These were the fetid nutrients of the bi-partisan Combine. The corrupt journos. The Tribune was the Combine’s flagship paper, but the Sun Times had them too. And a fat drunken blogger in Springfield who also took care of Combine needs. This was deeply offensive to me. Even more so because of their supposed “journalistic oaths” that they took and prattled on and on about. Once there were Republican and Democrat water boys and girls, but as the partisanship changed, so did they, carrying water for Soros Marxists and corporate pimps with the same pail. And they put their mouth on that pail and drank deep.

The oleaginous great lord of the Illinois Combine, the late Republican Gov. Big Jim Thompson escaped federal scrutiny and that is also unfair. But he was a former federal prosecutor whose corrupt influence on federal law enforcement culture can’t ever be overstated. He was a dealmaker who railed against taxes then raised them after elections, and his corrupt posse included convicted Big Bill Cellini, the boss of the road builders (how you dooin?) and the convicted Gov. George Ryan and many, many others.

Madigan was convicted on 10 of 27 corruption counts. He joins a long line of Illinois politicians who went away to college, including former Illinois governors Rod Blagojevich, Ryan, Dan Walker and Otto Kerner, and former Ald. Edward Burke (14th) and Fast Eddie Vrdolyak and others convicted of betraying the public trust.

At least Madigan wasn’t a hypocrite. Or a whiner to beg the feds for mercy. I thought of him as more like a granite stone you’d break your hands on. And after pounding on that stone, year after year, you look up and your hands are a mess and your life is almost over, your hands unusable. And what did you hope to accomplish?

The city of Chicago, and Illinois, so corrupt for so long now run by an obese billionaire clown right out of a Fellini movie, is falling in on itself. And the people? They kept voting race and playing the race card and now their public schools are so decrepit that  they won’t be able to compete in the new world of the future. Without good education, the ruling class have left them fit only for serfdom or sex workers, and prison. It’s as if all this was designed by Karl Marx himself. And cui bono? Who benefits? The Illinois political class, the Combine that protected the predatory teachers unions? The kids given substandard educations? Their parents who went along for the ride?

So what took Mike Madigan down? Himself. He hung out with that Springfield lobbyist Michael McClain. And McClain’s idiotic use of email, bragging like a jackass about “the most trusted of the trusted” brought Madigan low. And Madigan was also hit with testimony from the odious former Chicago Ald. Danny “the Rat” Solis, who bragged on federal tape that he desired Asian women for paid-for special massages. “Good,” the Rat said on federal tape. “I like Asian.”

Solis furthered the exploitation of vulnerable women. I wonder: Wasn’t there a mysterious “Federal Official B” who disappeared after Solis was indicted? Wonder what he knows? I think he was a Congressman. Will he publicly admit this?

Former federal prosecutor Ron Safter was quoted by ABC Chicago as saying of Madigan: “He was arguably the most powerful man in Illinois politics. He was arguably the most careful politician in Illinois politics. The message should get out: If you can get Mike Madigan, you can get anybody,”
Safer said one of the biggest wins for prosecutors is the guilty verdict on a Madigan scheme to pass beneficial legislation for ComEd, in exchange for no-work jobs for his cronies.
“I totally think that the emails, the conversations about board positions, about lobbyists, lobbyists being paid for positions that they did not fulfill, that is incontrovertible evidence,” Safer was quoted as saying.
But no Big Jim Thompson, no former Mayor Richard M. Daley.
Many years ago, the close friends of Boss Madigan and Ald. Edward Burke could see what was happening, even if political Illinois (meaning corrupt Illinois) could not. Burke and Madigan were targets. They weren’t stupid. They knew how this could end.

They knew the feds would come for them eventually.

The worst insult came from Gov. Toilets, aka J.B. Pritzker, the fat billionaire who thinks you’re stupid enough to let him become president. Gov. Toilets, also known as Gov. Commodius Maximus, bought a Gold Coast mansion next his own and then pulled out the toilets in a scheme to make it “uninhabitable” and get a $300,000 tax break.

Because fat Democrats also know the Chicago Way.

Toilets Pritzker has no shame. He launched an attack on Madigan.

“When I ran for office, I made clear that I would be beholden to no one, and that I would serve the best interests of the people of Illinois,” said Gov Toilets when Madigan was federally indicted years ago on multiple counts, and Toilets thought it was safe for him to crow. “I have upheld that vow. For the past three years, my administration has made clear that such abuses will not be tolerated, and we’ve tightened our ethics laws. I will continue to work with the General Assembly to restore the public’s trust.”

Really, Fat Boy?

Have another bag of Oreos and sing to us of your virtue.

As the federal criminal racketeering conspiracy indictment of Michael J. Madigan came down, I was thinking of that audience of the apples, another thing I forgot to tell Bevan. Years ago, one of Madigan’s toadies hanging around the press room in Springfield, a walking cliche of a cigar chomper, suggested it would be “a good idea” for me to have lunch with Madigan, who for decades controlled the state as Speaker of the Illinois House and as chairman of the Illinois Democratic Party. He was boss of the 13th Ward.

So, I went to lunch in Boss Madigan’s office. There were two apples sliced neatly, arranged precisely on two linen napkins. He graciously offered me a napkin, but I quickly realized I wasn’t there to eat, but to witness. He spoke methodically about some house procedure, about the Southwest Side of Chicago where each of us were born.  There were pleasantries about the White Sox. It was all very polite.

But it was an audience, not a lunch. I was the petitioner. It was a theatrical demonstration of control. Of discipline. He kept his mouth closed as he chewed, his eyes widening, and in that quiet office, I could hear the disciplined crunching. One slice, then another. Silence and crunching. I realized I could have been sitting with the blue eyed omniscient oculist from the billboard in the novel by F. Scott Fitzgerald, “The Great Gatsby.”

I thought of Pritzker, the state’s porcelain prince, scrambling to distance himself from Madigan now that Pritzker is the Democratic boss. He bought the state party with his inherited hotel billions. After the indictment, Pritzker made sure to make himself available to reporters, braying loudly about how much ethics mean to him, as if he was as pure as Caesar’s wife. And he didn’t mention his toilet caper once.

Yes, you’re allowed to smirk.

I’m sure Madigan smirked. I can see him smirking now.

Some time ago, back when Democrat Pat Quinn was governor of Illinois, I wrote about wind swept Madiganistan, that economic wasteland, once known as Illinois, is in absolute ruins” and other media, including the Madison St. Clair Record picked up my theme.

“The following statistics support Kass’s viewpoint. Madiganistan, once part of the “new world” lands coveted by European empires is a province in the country known as the United States. Once an economic powerhouse, the state is a pale shadow of its former self. Illinois is run by the provincial governor, or “Caliph,” Pat Quinn and Grand Vizier of the Legislature named Michael Madigan for which Madiganistan is named, are supported by a Chicago based super majority of the ‘Blue’ or Democratic Party. Current economic statistics tell the story of mismanagement.”

In those days I’d mention the New York state Democrat boss Sheldon Silver, who thought he was untouchable.

He wasn’t untouchable. Neither was Mike Madigan.

I respected the old guard political bosses. They were hard working, crafty, detail oriented, like Outfit bosses. And ruthless.

But I just wish Madigan had listened to his friends and got out early to enjoy his life. He didn’t. The others never did, either.

When friends talked to him about possibly retiring, he’d stare at them as if he were talking to a madman. “What would I do?” he asked.

He was Mike Madigan, speaker of the Illinois House, chairman of the Illinois Democrats. There was nothing else he wanted to do. Nothing else he was fit for, other than being a political king with his bony hands on the levers of power. Researching this, going through old notes about Madigan, and about the bandit Pedro Flores, I found a sculpture about sorrow done by Jacqueline Damon at the Swell Sculpture Festival.

You see it in the photograph below. I can feel the wind on the beach as it picks up the fabric of the Damon sculpture, like a canvas sail, like a sigh.

Mike Madigan didn’t listen. He became the job. And the job became Mike Madigan. The feds dug up Danny the Rat to add spice to their stew. And some naive journos are suggesting that now, finally, corrupt Illinois may have learned a lesson.

It hasn’t learned a thing. There is nothing else. Illinois will collapse in on itself. Chicago will fall in on itself.

Except now, at 82, after a lifetime in power, with his wife Shirley ill, Boss Madigan is going away. Or not. He’s done and the jackals and hyenas are still.

There is no joy in this, or exhilaration. The other crooks won’t change their ways. They haven’t learned anything. They don’t care to learn.

Striking the granite gives off a lonely sound, an echo, like the sound a gravestone makes when it is set firmly in the ground and you pound on it, alone.

 

 

(Copyright John Kass 2025)

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About the author: John Kass spent decades as a political writer and news columnist in Chicago working at a major metropolitan newspaper. He is co-host of The Chicago Way podcast. And he just loves his “No Chumbolone” hat, because johnkassnews.com is a “No Chumbolone” Zone where you can always get a cup of common sense.

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Comments 77

  2. Magnificent! Worthy of the Old Bandito/Chieftain and as poignant today as th collapsing timbers od Madiganistan.

    The creeps like GOP toady Pat Brady and academic tough-slurpers like Thundering Dick Simpson and that WGN twitch Paul Lesnick will coo and warble of a new Golden Age around the Golden Crapper of Governor Lardass, but the gimme-gimme gimmied citizens will vote straight ticket.

    Loved this – ” And a fat drunken blogger in Springfield who also took care of Combine needs. “: That worthy introduced me to public writing. Bad ses to him!

    Wonderful piece!

      1. Lesnick is one of the many reasons we stopped watching WGN morning news. Used to love it and their personalities but Lesnick and Marge Halperin and Terry Sullivan made it so biased, we now spend our mornings listening to Dan Proft and Amy Jacobson and sometimes, Mr Kass.

  3. Wow, oleaginous. I had to look that one up. With plenty of old school Catholic education, 23 years worth, I thought I had a good grasp of the language especially thanks to Br. Levy, a retired Navy CPO who joined the Irish Christian Brothers after his service. Tough as nails with a vocab to match. You better get a good (80% or better) grade on his quizzes or else. But he taught us well. Never too old to
    learn a new and ideally descriptive word. Thanks John.!!

  4. I think the greatest travesty was the fact that everyone knew. FOR A LONG TIME. Everyone watched, they admired, they applauded. I remember Alderman Burke carrying his Kelly green briefcase into City Hall. Watching the seas part as he walked in. I remember seeing Representative Madigan in the State of Illinois building. A little slower, more methodical about everything he did.
    You’re right, everyone just fell right in line thinking that they would never let us down.

  6. This column is a commentary on all of us, the Illinois voters. The only thing we have a surplus of are CHUMBOLONES.

    Albert Einstein: The definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results.

  8. Great work John. Maybe when Pam Bondi is done in the Big Apple, she could head over to the Windy City? The Combine has been spotted here in Wisconsin, HELP!! S.O.S. Save Our State. This winning thing is pretty cool and seeing the Ds defend the indefensible is freaking amazing.

    1. In part, that’s because Gov. Commodious Maximus bought the last WI-SC election, and is trying to buy this one as well.

      As a sidelight, I found it amusing during Covid, when IL was locked down and WI was not, that people would go and rent a boat on Lake Geneva – and (yes, we were boaters so were out there frequently), slow troll past his house on the lake and moon it. I could never be sure if they were Illinoisans or Wisconsinites – everyone detests him except those he corruptly funds – but there they were!

  9. Sometimes it’s hard to believe that Carol King’s Tapestry album was the number 1 album on Billboard’s chart when Madigan first began his tenure in the Illinois House. He “served” that long! But we didn’t need him tho give us a purpose driven life. That is a purpose we could have done without. He literally used his efforts as a delegate to the 1970 Illinois Constitutional Convention to help codify the decline of Illinois! Think pension obligations and legislative map boundaries. I wonder if Rick Pearson or Rich Miller are having post mortem reflections like you are. That’s meant as a sarcasm. Of course not! Because to cover Illinois, it seems one has to place one’s integrity in a blind trust in order to succeed in what passes for journalism in this state. God bless you, John, but your life has purpose long before you had that weird apple slices “lunch” with the Lepruchan from 63rd and Pulaski.

  11. I have always enjoyed reading your columns. In the newspaper they were one of the first things I read. Unfortunately we cannot escape the day to day corruption here in the city. Having grown up here and still here after 65 trips around the sun you eventually become immune to the “politicians” and their antics, though many times illegal acts. It becomes dinner talk or chatter to pass the time.

    I have given serious consideration to how this can be changed. As a youth Chicago had crime but it was centralized. You could safely walk down Michigan avenue or go to the loop without worry of being robbed. You could leave your doors open on a warm summer night. You could sit on the front porch and talk with neighbors. You could go to the store without your cars doors locked. You could stop safely at a stop light without fear of having your car stolen at gunpoint.

    Chicago was the crown jewel of the midwest. Today it has become the dump of the midwest. I am not naive enough to believe that that the city we once had in the past will be reborn and return overnight, but I do believe that this city can once again become the crown jewel of the midwest. It would take work and a lot of gumption but it could be done. Too many mayors have come and gone and have only added to the problems we have today. Our last republican mayor, Big Bill Thompson was in 1927. And he was no bargain. Our next election is 2027.

    I never went to bed dreaming of being the mayor nor did I ever want to be the mayor. I have no delusions of grandeur. But I do want the city fixed because it is broken. Having worked for the city for 30 years I had a front row seat to all the crime that occurred on a daily basis. I truly believe the city can be fixed. I also know that maybe every 100 years a Republican can be the mayor of this great City of Chicago. If the Cubs could do it why not the citizens of the city of chicago. Maybe it’s time for some new blood. Some new ideas. Some fresh thoughts. Some change. We need change. We must Be The Change.

    1. I agree. But man what a challenge. My sons just moved to Chicago. My wife’s family are all in the area. I recall stories of Chicagoans sleeping with their families in the Parks on hot summer nights. My mother grew up in Chatham. There was a farm across Cottage Grove at 84th.

    2. Well said Paul, it breaks my heart to see the city we loved and worked for destroyed from with in. As a kid I road the Archer bus all over, Amphitheater, Comiskey, Wrigley, Warsharskys. Going to a Catholic school on religious holidays I road the bus to 26th and Cal and the Federal building to watch trails.

      Now I will no longer go any where near Chicago Stadium for my hockey, Rosemount is so much safer. What I really miss is going to the great plays we have in Chicago, on Theater Row, but even going to the matinee s aren’t save, stopped twice by people demanding money in broad daylight. Not the homeless, young men wearing the expensive bomber jackets..

      All this in our life time.

  12. Just guessing that other people who once lived in Illinois have had reactions like mine when reading a tough, wise Kass column like this one. You think something like “The big powers in Chicago and Illinois — corrupt and sinister, the lot of them.” Time passes, he leads you on an expert tour through the swamps of Madiganistan, and you think “Man, it’s worse than I thought.”

    More time passes, the tour goes deeper. You think, “Man, it’s worse than New Jersey.”

  13. I had a similar visit with Michael Madigan in the summer of 74. I lived in the 13th ward and needed a summer job. I went to his office on 71st street facing Marquette Park. There was front office room with single high counter, then an empty anteroom and then his darken office room. As I sat in a chair much lower than his desk, he asked about my family (didn’t ask what parish, since he knew from my address) where I was going to school (Loyola University) and what I was studying (pre-med). He mentioned he graduated from Loyola Law. The meeting ended that his office would call me in a day or two with a job offer. They did but it was park counselor on the far southeast side of Chicago. To think I was age 19 and he was so powerful at age 32. All of this was like a scene out of “The Godfather.”

    2. So David, you criticize MM, but think nothing about asking and getting a political job from him. Is it any wonder that we have corruption in politics when citizens like you use crooks to get you a job.

  15. One column like this more than compensates for my annual subscription. Com Ed was not only collateral damage, they were willing partners. The damage done to ratepayers, as well as investors, through the capture and plunder of the utility will exist long after the guilty Combine robbers are deceased. “Green” energy, indeed.

    1. This is so true about ComEd, which is why they settled the civil suit for $173 million. That was after they paid the government $200 million in their non prosecution agreement with the U.S. Attorney’s office!

  16. Good work once again John.

    I have never understood why so many voters in Illinois (likely including many of my family members and friends) could continue to vote for so many corrupt politicians.

    1. The way the so called progressive Left use to fawn all over Lisa made me puke.
      I said to them: but her dad’s a crook. She benefits from his organization and she protected his corrupt ways by not going after him. Doesn’t matter: SHES A WOMAN WHO PROTECTS ABORTION. AND HER FATHER. SHE WAS A PRETTY FACE, NO BRAINS.

  18. Recalling a conversation with an ILSOS employee after George Ryan was convicted for forcing SOS employees to do political fundraising, among other things. I asked what changed when Jesse White got elected…..He said ‘Nothing. It’s the same as it was when Jim Edgar was Secretary of State, and the same as it was under George Ryan. We are still required to do fundraising, but George is the only one who got charged’

  20. Unless I missed something, I did not hear anyone of the politicians bleating about ethics offer to give any of the money for their campaigns that they got from Madigan offering to give it back. Et tu, Brutus? What a collection of worthless slime. The only honest politicians in Illinois are in the cemetery. They (or their survivors) only have to buy the way in once.

  21. None of the Combine people are self-aware enough to examine themselves for what they are. Yes, there will be more corruption. It shows the intelligence of Mayor Daley. He got out, kept his millions, set his son up in a government-adjacent business and no one thinks of him anymore. Daley was as corrupt as Madigan or Burke.

    Pritzker doesn’t realize the only reason people are buddies with him is his wallet.

    In the great book about the rise of Chicago, “City of the Century”, author Donald Miller talks about how government and business were tied at the hip. Back at the city’s founding, it was the Republicans that ran things. For the last century, it has been the Democrats.

    The sad thing is that Illinois is an intricate part of America’s GDP. The corruption depresses American GDP and hurts all of us. But, that is starting to change as companies leave the state. They can’t leave fast enough.

    Counties ought to secede and join neighboring states.

    1. The old Dems from about 1920 to 2000 were smart enough to leave the Park District and part of the MWRD to the Republicans. They were run much better than Streets and San for example, and that was much appreciated by the voters. So the Dems let them have their patronage there, as long as they did the work, and kept the no-show jobs for their own campaign workers.

  23. Just when Madigan and his storied career had faded in my consciousness you bring him back.

    Thanks.

    We must never forget how one person can ruin a great city, state, nation when the “silent majority” stays silent.

  24. My wife and I were talking and agreed that Madigan could easily (naturally?) play a very authentic Lucifer in movies. He’s very apt, both in looks & deed (the apples!), for the part. He’s responsible for two generations worth of Illinois & Chicago decline.

    Don’t worry, there’s a plethora of other corrupt self-serving politicians in line to be taken down to keep the column going ad infinitum. 🙁

  26. Yianni,
    All is takes to destroy a city, state or country, is for the populace to sit idly by, do nothing to alter course, and witness their own destruction. We are there now. Mayor Pannix and Fat Boy are in charge – clueless, and destroying Chicago and Illinois in tandem. Not sure who’s dumber at this point. But for sure, the voters of the city and state need an awakening before there’s nothing left to save. As Fat Boy and Brandon shout from the roof tops about protecting illegals, defying ICE, the feds are making lists and taking names. Soon, the port barrel of funds will evaporate and they’ll have to face the music to provide for all these “unfortunates” that have stumbled in – even though voters and legal citizens are being bypassed for any help for their taxes, fees, groceries, schools, etc. I wonder when it’ll all explode in the genious’ faces! Meanwhile, the edifice to Obama is substantially over budget, and lawsuits are erupting. I wonder who’s going to get stuck for the over-runs! The “Chicago Way” is slowly crumbling, but not fast enough….

  27. Illinois continues to be an endless Conveyor Belt of Corruption.

    One crooked pol after the other, each absolutely sure they’ll never get caught … because they’re always “the smartest person in every room”.

    Until some Federal Prosecutor, with an equally huge ego, comes along. But the seeds of the next generation of political criminals have already taken root in some Ward Boss office, or a do nothing “inspector” job at O’Hare.

    Lather, rinse , repeat … ad nauseum.

  28. I wish the dumb Republicans would be at least half smart as the DemoRats. First, Billionaire Rauner won’t let the smart South Dakotan lady run for governor against Pritzker. Next he didn’t even use the Commodius Maximus ads effectively in his campaign to beat Mr. Toilets. And look how effectively the DemRats used the abortion issue against the stupid Illinois farmer to win the election for Mr. Toilets.

    1. You can only win if you are really trying to win. Rauner had no interest in a second term because he was tired of fighting Madigan. He went through the motions, ran a half-assed campaign and left Illinois after the election. The “stupid” Illinois farmer had no chance against “Toilets” and the fool women who vote for the candidate who supports their right to kill their own offspring to the exclusions of all other issues. Thay have lots of money – it is all about them. Economic issues do mean a damn thing to them or their p***y whipped husbands (if they have a husband). To hell with the peasants- they only pay taxes to support free abortion. I’m waiting for “Toilets” to put up the signs at the state border – “Welcome to Illinois -The Abortion Capital of America”.

  29. Power corrupts and absolute power corrupts absolutely.

    I am sure I did not get that perfect but you get the point. The power is the juice and once they drink the juice they cannot wait to get more. Term Limits

  31. Dear John: Always enjoy your writings. I had very few dealings with the Speaker, but when I did, there were positive results. Obviously he was in control, however I asked him to kill some bad legislation and he did.
    The first bill was an attempt by a state representative to abolish the Cook County Boot Camp. The reason the bill was proposed was due to the representative’s being upset about a judge giving boot camp to a person charged with armed robbery. I told him the boot camp was the best program compared to the state boot camp, because a judge had some control after the person went through the boot camp. Unlike the state boot camp which was worthless due to the person having no monitoring. The person would go back to the old haunts and return into the system. He moved the3 bill to Rules where it denied the death it deserved.

      1. Oh I see, the world is just black and white. The jury has spoken on a number of counts and it will be up to the judge to render an appropriate sentence. Just because one is convicted, it does not mean the person is no longer worthy of compassion or assessment of factors in aggravation and mitigation. What room are you in?

  32. Very good John. Illinois politicians, Illinois politics, and lots and lots of money. Where does it end? How many mosquito abatement districts are there? How many Township Governments are there? How many road fund slush funds are out there? Too many gaping maws in the trough.

  33. The second bill was an attempt by the sheriff’s association to pass a bill that allowed for the police to get an eavesdropping device by just going to the state’s attorneys office without running the request by a neutral judge. The bill was killed also. In many ways he exercised his powers the proper way by killing poor bills.

    1. Yes, once in a blue moon, he would do the right thing.

      When the Tribune went bananas about admissions at U of I, it response to Madigan intervening in a (very few) admissions decisions. The one I am familiar with involved a family who had suffered a terrible tragedy who had a kid waitlisted for Illinois admission. Madigan pushed it through and the kid was admitted and completed school at CU successfully. At that time, over 70% of the admissions involved some type of manual intervention before admissions, but the Trib picked out a few where Madigan intervened to be prickish about.

      I am not a fan of Mike Madigan, but he did have a heart somewhere that would come out occasionally.

      1. i take no pleasure in his downfall. and most of us here–unlike the witless media dancing that his head is on a federal pikc. illinois has been killed, and chicago has been killed, but the politicians had plenty of help from the voters. the truly corrupt

      1. First: Justice Anne Burke was the one who appointed Justice Cunningham to the Illinois
        Supreme Court prior to her retirement. Second: At the time the donation was made, Alderman Burke had not been convicted. Third: The donation could have been made by Justice Burke to Justice Cunningham through Burke’s campaign fund. I don’t know all the facts and don’t know the source of the funds. Both Justice Burke and Justice Cunningham have never had allegations made against them. Both have outstanding reputations and are considered hard working jurists.

  35. “Who the hell is that? One bastard goes in and another comes out!..” Tuco Salamanca, The Good, The Bad and The Ugly. Chicago politics are a cesspool. Madigan and Burke are the last of the Irish guard of the Democrat party. The Kennedys have been long pushed out, the party is now filled with the radical public sector unionists and ultrarrich limousine liberals. Much like the Chicago Teachers Union that party exists on the money of those who barely survive while the elites who run the unions live like kings. Madigan and Burke were slick enough to dodge the Feds for years, the New Guard NOT so much. Their grift is now being exposed thanks to the election of Donald Trump. The ones who cry the loudest are the ones most guilty. Trump should make every House and Senate politician have a sign on their podium listing ALL of their donors. And how much money they’ve taken from these “gift givers”.

  37. How I am glad that I have been living in Indiana since 1986.
    Growing up West of Midway Airport, us Polish people felt safe from the rest of Chicago and Illinois.
    As soon as you left my Garfield Ridge neighborhood to Work or School, you got hammered with the Combine’s power.

  39. JK great column as usual.

    As a semi religious person I felt sad for Madigan walking out of the court house with the two daughters. His wife is very ill, what time he has left, his golden years are shot.
    Notice the mainstream media is quiet about Lisa Madigan..never went after corruption.

    Same with Burke a guy who adopted a child, lost a son, and went to mass every morning, and we find out he was a conniving thief rotting away in a prison cell.
    They deserve it, but the families now suffer in the emotional pain.

    Why didn’t they just walk away, how much is enough..

  40. I hope I’m wrong, but I cannot believe Madigan will do any time in a federal prison. He’s old enough to be able to run out the clock with appeals. The Grim Reaper will take him away before he reports to the slammer. Someone tell me I’m wrong.

  41. Great writing JK as usual.
    I recall a quote from Louis B Mayer, CEO of MGM Studios for decades in Hollywood. In his waning days, Louis was asked why he wouldn’t retire. “Nobody would return my calls,” was his response according to Neil Gabler in “An Empire of their Own.”

  42. Patronage refers to the practice of appointing individuals to government positions or awarding contracts based on political connections and loyalty rather than merit or qualifications. It is often associated with the spoils system, where newly elected officials reward their supporters with government jobs and benefits.
    Patronage used to be the dirty word in politics, but after watching Dan Walker walk across Illinois, I got involved in politics.
    And after so many years of seeing corruption in Illinois, I almost wish that patronage was still a thing.
    I mean; is corruption in Illinois so evident that we don’t even hide it anymore? No outcry?
    Corruption in this state is the status quo.
    We still have patronage, but it’s a hybrid. In the old days, you would get your patronage job and in exchange, you would campaign and contribute to the party in power; most likely Democrat.
    Now, you just drop off a sack of money, they cross your name off the list and you go back to work; guaranteed of a job until retirement.

  43. No Truer Words were written… “McClain’s idiotic use of email, bragging like a jackass about “the most trusted of the trusted” brought Madigan low. “… and most of McClain’s pompous self-promotion was BS.

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