Madigan can see the past — and what’s coming
When the U.S. Department of Justice dropped that federal hammer on Illinois House Speaker Mike Madigan on Friday, I thought of the shock waves spreading out to Democratic bosses across the country, and the sound of Illinois political rats scurrying for cover they won’t find.
But mostly I thought of Boss Madigan’s eyes, blue stones made flat and cold from 50 years as the political boss of the most politically corrupt state in the country.
In my mind I could see Madigan’s eyes widening, as he concentrated on the federal documents filed Friday that are the road map to his end game, like the eyes of Dr. T.J. Eckleburg, the oculist in “The Great Gatsby,” blue, unblinking, omniscient.
Madigan can see what’s coming and he can see the past. For five decades he’s held the tribes together, with his iron will, and his word, his discipline, and expert use of fear and power.
“We told him years ago he should retire,” a Madigan friend said Friday, as the federal hammer came down. “We’d say, ‘You made enough money. You had all that power. It’s time to go.’
“And you know what he’d say? He’d say, ‘Yeah, but if I retire, what am I going to do?’ ”
What is Madigan going to do? How about trying to stay out of federal prison? That’s something to do.
Madigan wasn’t charged with any crimes, but that wasn’t the point when U.S. Attorney John Lausch pulled that big federal bus out Friday — the one with a driver named RICO — and outlined how Commonwealth Edison would cooperate in the federal investigation.
The giant utility agreed to pay $200 million in fines for assisting in a bribery and corruption scheme to benefit “Public Official A” that cost electric rate payers across Illinois real money in rate increases.
In exchange — though it wasn’t explicitly stated except as “cooperation” — ComEd turned over its intelligence and its people will testify.
Implicated are Madigan’s Democratic precinct captains with those do-nothing jobs, and Madigan-friendly contractors and Madigan-approved political lobbyists.
Reporters kept asking Lausch to identify Public Official A, but he refused. In the government filing, Public Official A is defined as the “Speaker of the Illinois House.” There is only one: Madigan.
All of Madigan’s toadies, from the politicos to friendly internet gossipmongers, must be washing themselves in holy water right about now. Some will shout they’re not part of it. Some have already tried distancing themselves. Others will tell their lawyers to cut a deal.
But there won’t be any deal for Madigan. He’s the target. Targets don’t make deals. Targets see their families on visitors day.
Say what you want about Mike Madigan, and I have, he’s no hypocrite.
Yet there was the ethical marshmallow himself, billionaire Gov. J.B. Pritzker, virtue signaling and throwing Madigan under the bus.
Years ago, Pritzker was caught on federal tape weaseling for the state treasurer’s job from crooked Gov. Rod Blagojevich and unctuously trashing Black politicians. Now, reportedly, he has his federal “toilets” scandal to deal with.
Pritzker said if the allegations against Madigan are true, he must resign.
But wasn’t it Pritzker who purchased an Astor Street mansion next to his home, then had the toilets removed to save himself more than $300,000 in property taxes?
On Friday, Pritzker said public service is “a sacred trust.”
“I have not been contacted by federal authorities nor has my wife,” said Illinois’ own Gov. Commodius Maximus when asked about his toilet caper.
Earlier, in another news conference, Lausch said that ComEd’s cooperation in the Madigan investigation “speaks volumes about the nature of the very stubborn public corruption problem we have here in Illinois.”
“The admitted facts detail a nearly decadelong corruption scheme involving top management at a large public utility, leaders of state government, consultants and several others inside and outside of government,” he said. “In two words, it’s ‘not good.’ ”
Taxpayers who’ve been reading the Chicago Tribune for years know how it works. They’ve been slapped in the mouth for decades by Democrats and their Republican handmaidens who get rich through public service.
And they know that if they get on the inside, with the right clique, they might reach for the sweetmeats.
This is how government corruption destroys its people, by inviting them to play along for a piece.
They become infected with it and close their eyes and vote. Chicago, and Illinois, drown in red ink.
And the ones who don’t want to play? They leave.
So, what does the Madigan news mean for Illinois, already past fiscal insolvency, with taxpayers and businesses fleeing across the borders in the Illinois Exodus?
Politically it means more chaos to come. Pritzker still wants his big state income tax increase, even though he has also strangled business and the economy with his coronavirus shutdown of commerce.
Without Madigan, think of Yugoslavia after the death of Tito. The tribes will turn on each other. Some of you may remember Chicago after the death of the late Mayor Richard J. Daley. It’s human nature.
In the short term, the big losers are organized labor and the trial lawyers. Madigan protected them. They’ll have to cut other deals.
Madigan knows how these things go. He must see it all coming his way, as he sits alone, perhaps wondering if he should have retired long ago, his blue eyes growing wide.
Listen to “The Chicago Way” podcast with John Kass and Jeff Carlin — at www.wgnradio.com/category/wgnplus/thechicagoway.