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Mike Madigan was the “mafia boss” for the Illinois Democratic Party for decades. He was also the long serving speaker of the house until a year or so ago (he resigned, it’ll be obvious why in a second). Bills didn’t get through the house or consideration without his blessing. Recently, he established the Gun Violence Task Force in the state House, which thinks of all sorts of great ways to “reduce gun violence” (re: gun control law proposals).
Illinois House Speaker Michael Madigan has formed a task force on gun violence with a goal of presenting an omnibus bill that would overhaul the state’s gun laws.
Madigan created the House Firearm Public Awareness Task Force earlier this month to “review the issue of gun violence and make recommendations to reduce violence.”
Chicago Democrat La Shawn Ford will lead the 24-member bipartisan task force, which has 12 Democrats and 12 Republicans.
“There’s a lot of bills that we’re trying to push in Springfield as Democrats that Republicans are pushing back on and vice versa,” Ford said. “It will be our job to ensure that all of those are put on the table.”
Now, if you’re unfamiliar with all of the corruption in the Land of Lincoln, head to google and take a look. Let’s just say that if the day ends in “Y”, some current or former politician is being eyeballed. Anyways, here’s what just happened to the powerful (he still had influence) Mike Madigan:
Former Illinois House Speaker Michael J. Madigan wielded enormous power and shattered records in his decades-long tenure under Springfield’s Capitol dome. But in a federal courthouse in Chicago’s Loop, a grand jury on Wednesday said he also spent years leading what’s been dubbed the “Madigan Enterprise” — designed to criminally enrich himself and those loyal to him.
That blockbuster allegation appears in a wide-ranging, highly anticipated, 106-page indictment that appears to be the culmination of an aggressive, yearslong federal assault not just on old-school Chicago politics, but on some of Illinois’ most well-known political dynasties.
The indictment was built, in part, on the work of former longtime Chicago City Council member Danny Solis (25th) whose cooperation with federal prosecutors was first exposed by the Chicago Sun-Times in January 2019, and who helped the feds build a similar indictment against Ald. Edward M. Burke (14th), the longest-serving member of the council.
The Sun-Times also exclusively reported in January 2019 on an affidavit detailing the investigation that led to Solis’ cooperation. That document revealed that the feds secretly recorded Madigan in his law office at Madigan & Getzendanner in August 2014. Court records filed in connection with Madigan’s indictment Wednesday confirm the investigation goes back to the same year.
Gotta love it.....