October 19, 2021 • 23 mins
During five decades leading state government, Mike Madigan engineered stirring victories and suffered painful losses. From patronage to pensions, ethical conflicts to sexual harassment--and ultimately, a federal investigation that brought him down.
In the fourth installment of the BGA’s limited series podcast “The Madigan Rule,” host Justin Kaufmann looks into Micheal J. Madigan’s political legacy featuring conversations with former Governors Pat Quinn and Bruce Rauner, State Representative Kelly Cassidy (14th), Former State Representative Ken Dunkin (5th), State Representative La Shawn Ford (8th), State Representative Will Guzzardi (39th), Alaina Hampton, Dave McKinney, John Chase, Pat Brady, Ray Long and Amanda Vinicky.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:05):
In the spring of 2011, Kelly Cassidy won a
special election to fill avacancy in the Illinois house.
She beat out more than 20opponents for the role with her
victory.
She not only became a staterepresentative.
She became part of thedemocratic house caucus led by
speaker and party chairman MikeMadigan, like others, Cassidy
(00:25):
knew of Madigan's power andinfluence, even though she was a
freshman representative, shewasn't a newcomer to state
politics.
She worked for a powerful stateSenator John Cullerton back in
the nineties, but as a newelected representative, she
began to question Madigan'spower over her and her
colleagues.
Speaker 2 (00:42):
Pivotal moment.
For me, that really changed mythought process.
As far as operating within thatcaucus was in my first summer in
office.
We had a special session day andwe were in, in caucus in a, in a
committee hearing room.
The fire alarm went off and I doto fleet, put my things in my
bag and stood up and lookedaround and nobody was moving.
(01:04):
I was the only person standing.
There were folks with concerned,looks on their faces, but I just
was like, what just happenedhere?
And then he, he motioned foreveryone to rise with his hands
and we all stood up and walkedout.
And I just spent the rest of theday wondering what in the name
of God I had just experienced.
And that probably set me downthe questioning path a little
(01:26):
more quickly than I maybe wouldhave gotten there on my own.
Speaker 1 (01:38):
I'm Justin Kaufman.
This is the Madigan rule episodefour.
What goes up podcast is aproduction of the better
government association.
Madigan's 36 years as housespeaker loaded with controversy
throughout his tenuregovernment, reformers
Republicans.
And even some Democratscomplained about how much
control he had over stategovernment.
(01:59):
They bristled at the brazen way.
He used his political power todrive business for his law firm
and the way he seemed to caremore about power than public
policy, many speculated aboutethics violations, conflicts of
interest and corruptionallegations.
Over the years, investigativejournalists and federal
prosecutors uncovered widespreadevidence of corruption inside
(02:20):
Chicago city hall, the judicialsystem, the secretary of state's
office and transit agencies likeMetra.
There were bribery scandals payto play schemes and
investigations involving coastpayrolling jobs for political
favors and performing campaignwork on government time.
But throughout his 50 years inoffice, Madigan himself was
never prosecuted for wrongdoing.
(02:41):
And each time a scandal effectedthe democratic party, Madigan
would preside over thelegislative effort to pass
reforms to state law, but astime went on more serious cracks
and Madigan's armor began toappear.
One of the biggest came in early2018 pop story here is emotional
Speaker 3 (02:59):
This morning from a woman who once worked for
speaker Mike Madigan's office,as she detailed sexual
harassment allegations by hersupervisor,
Speaker 1 (03:06):
A key ant
Speaker 4 (03:07):
And claims that her career with sabotage
Speaker 1 (03:10):
Speaker Michael Madigan is facing the scrutiny
for his handling of sexualharassment
Speaker 2 (03:16):
Firestorm,
Speaker 1 (03:17):
Including one candidate made the national
swirl of the me too movement.
A 28 year old female stafferfrom Madigan's organization came
forward to claim.
She was repeatedly sexuallyharassed by a member of
Madigan's team.
And Madigan did nothing to stopit.
Her name, Elena Hampton.
Speaker 5 (03:33):
I was terrified there was no HR set up in this
organization.
So the only two options I had toreport it to was the brother of
my harasser or the most powerfulpolitician in the state.
Mike Madigan.
I opted to go with the brotherof my harasser and I was in a
really bad position.
(03:54):
I didn't have a good option toget
Speaker 1 (03:57):
When Hampton went public with her claim, state
representative Kelly Cassidystepped forward to demand
answers from Madigan and laterled a very public push for
reform.
Speaker 2 (04:07):
Th the most telling thing about Elena's story.
And so many of the othersurvivors that we, that we've
ended up speaking to over theyears since we've come forward,
it is just how common theexperiences.
I mean, I was, I was very youngstaffer on campaigns and you
know, a lot of what is not okaytoday was brushed aside.
(04:27):
I mean, if you're a womanworking in politics, you knew
that you didn't have anywhere toturn the typical process for
handling a complaint like thisin a, in a campaign would be
what he tried to do in thisinstance, which is knock it off.
And that was, that was obviouslynot enough.
Anyone else who was harassingsomeone on a campaign would get
(04:48):
a, knock it off and wouldprobably knock it off.
Um, he thought that knock it offwas the appropriate response.
Cause it always worked before
Speaker 1 (04:57):
Hampton worked for Madigan's political operation
for five years first as a fieldorganizer for candidates.
And that is a program specialistwithin the office of the speaker
of the house.
Speaker 5 (05:06):
I was a little naive about the situation when I
reported it.
I reported it twice.
The second time I mailed aletter to his house.
I thought that he would call mepersonally, but his lawyer did.
And I think I should have knownfrom that point that it was
going to be really serious.
Two months went by where hislawyer didn't follow up with me.
(05:29):
I was in denial for a couple ofmonths.
And then when the story wentpublic, I had hired attorneys.
I think it kind of caught themoff guard because I was such a
loyal employee to them for solong.
And I was always the employeethat said yes to everything they
asked me to do.
I mean, really I worked all overthe suburbs all over the city
(05:50):
that so many staterepresentatives know who I am
because he would send me out totheir campaigns to knock on
doors.
So I think I was naive in thissituation and I think I caught
them off,
Speaker 1 (06:01):
Sorry.
Hampton filed a federaldiscrimination lawsuit against
the democratic party ofIllinois, the democratic
majority, the 13th warddemocratic organization and the
friends of Michael J Madigancampaign fund.
Speaker 5 (06:13):
People would read my story.
They would think, wow, she's sobrave.
And this is such a monumentalmoment that someone would act so
young, a young woman would goagainst the most powerful man.
And I think I never saw it thatway.
And I think it's in part becauseI worked with him more
frequently than most.
(06:33):
And I didn't just read about himin the paper or see him on TV.
He was very humanized to me.
So I never felt like I was, youknow, suing this extremely
powerful man.
I felt like I was seekingjustice for myself.
And I felt like if I did this,it would be helpful for people
in the future as well.
(06:55):
But working for the mostpowerful man, I mean, it was a
learning experience to say theleast, and I wish it could have
been different, but I stilllearned a lot.
Speaker 1 (07:06):
Hampton story led to a number of new state laws and
procedures to help protect womenfrom harassment and
discrimination.
Madigan's long-time chief ofstaff, Tim Mapes resigned over
the scandal and it led many tocall for Madigan to resign as
well.
But Madigan weathered the storm.
He went on to win reelection in2018 and a year later, he
settled the lawsuit with Hamptonfor$275,000.
(07:36):
Elena Hampton, sexual harassmentclaims.
Weren't the only challenges toMadigan's power and reputation,
a growing fiscal crisis in thestate, including ballooning,
pension debt, rising taxes andlower bond ratings, angered many
voters, some took their angerout on the governor's office,
but over time, more and morepeople recognize the one
constant over the last fivedecades.
Wasn't the governor.
(07:57):
It was Michael Madigan.
And then there was politicalpatronage, the practice of
providing jobs for politicalloyalists.
It was outlawed in 1991 as partof the Shackman decree.
But in 2013 and investigationshowed it was still happening,
just not in government instead,an independent agencies, here's
WBC reporter, Dave McKinney
Speaker 6 (08:18):
Laid bare how patronage was alive and well in
Illinois.
And Mike Madigan was a master ofit.
And you know, you talked to theformer executive director of
Metro, Alex, Clifford, whobasically forced out of his job.
And you know, this happenedafter he put on the brakes to,
uh, you know, efforts to get payincreases for some, some Madigan
people you're talking about arail agency that that delivers
(08:42):
pre pandemic that was deliveringhundreds of thousands of
commuters to their, their jobsdowntown every single day.
And yet it was just a dumpingground for people that had, you
know, circulated petitions forMike Madigan or who were
precinct captains for him, orwho did something else that he
wanted for them.
You know, you scratch my back.
I'll scratch yours.
It's the very old way, the oldChicago way of doing business.
(09:05):
And he was a master of it
Speaker 1 (09:07):
In the end, Madigan weather, the Metro scandal too.
But six years later, a newfederal investigation surface
that would directly implicateMadigan and his top associates.
And this time Madigan wouldn'tbe so fortunate.
Speaker 7 (09:18):
It's about an hour ago for people charged in the
comment, bribery, scandalpleaded not guilty.
The defendants include one ofthe closest confidant
Speaker 8 (09:26):
For lawmakers announcing today that they are
joining the growing chorus ofthose who say they will not
support Mike Madigan's bid to bereelected speaker in January.
And the governor people chargedin a bribery screen.
That's in Royal house speaker,Michael Madigan entered not
guilty pleas Madigan saying in astatement, the truth is I have
never engaged in anyinappropriate or criminal
conduct, despite baselessspeculation, alluding to the
(09:49):
complaint.
Speaker 1 (09:49):
The 19 federal prosecutors opened an
investigation into the state'slargest electric utility
Commonwealth Edison.
They accused the CEO and othertop leaders in the company of
illegally providing jobs tomembers of Madigan's team in
exchange for favorablelegislative and regulatory
treatment.
So far, the investigation hasled to the indictments of four
people, including Madigan'sconfidant.
(10:09):
Mike McLean, also Madigan'schief of staff, Tim Mapes also
charged for perjury forallegedly lying to a grand jury,
but the investigation and thetrials related to it, aren't
over federal indictments, allbut named Madigan as public
official.
A so far Madigan has not beenindicted despite the growing
questions, voters reelectedMichael Madigan for the 25th
(10:32):
consecutive time in November of2020.
But by the time he was sworninto office, two months later,
things had changed dramaticallyin January of this year.
The rock solidly loyaldemocratic caucus refused to
reelect him as speaker of thehouse.
And just like that.
After a series of deadlockvotes, Madigan was gone.
(10:56):
He resigned to speakership andshortly thereafter resigned his
seat and the state legislature aCD held for 50 years when he
left, he stepped down as thelongest serving house leader in
American history, politicalreporter, Amanda Vinicky was
there.
Speaker 9 (11:11):
It's striking to me, I guess, is kind of these two
visuals of Madigan, right?
So he loses the speaker's raceand made some comments on the
floor, but it wasn't aparticularly poignant speech and
then left when it's overanswers, a couple of questions,
(11:35):
nothing truly meaningful, andthen walked down this hallway by
his lonesome, if it was a movie.
I mean, if this podcast was afilm, there you go.
It's the it's end.
And it is something cinematicwalked off.
(12:00):
Although
Speaker 10 (12:12):
[inaudible],
Speaker 9 (12:13):
It is we talk, you cannot ignore the comment
scandal, but he hasn't beenindicted to nice knowledge of
any scheme, let aloneparticipation in it and may
never be.
And yet what a downfall and wwhat, what a quick turn.
(12:33):
And it is incredible to me, howalmost quietly he left that
stage, both literally andmetaphorically when he lost the
speaker's race out of it.
Really.
Although, again, let's touch onthat.
It's still pretty incrediblethat your public official a and
(12:54):
had fewer than 20 members of acaucus leave you.
I mean, that is loyalty,
Speaker 1 (13:07):
Loyalty, discipline discretion, controlling the
money and controlling thespoils, mastering the rules and
making the rules.
Madigan mastered the art ofpolitics over 50 years and ruled
with unquestioned power andinfluence during his tenure.
But in the end, what is hislegacy?
We pose that very question todozens of people.
(13:29):
We interviewed for this podcast,including loyalists and
reformers Democrats andRepublicans, governors,
legislators, and reporters.
Speaker 9 (13:43):
Of course, you're going to get a lot of laws is if
you've been around for half acentury, what's hits.
That's really the question inthe chameleon part plays in.
It's not as if he was thespeaker elected to improve
education.
He didn't have a mission to makeIllinois the most diverse or to
(14:11):
bring in business to improve thestate's fiscal footing.
He didn't have that.
He had seemingly as what was inhis heart soul, what he woke up
with an eye toward and his goalwhen he went to bed at night, at
(14:31):
least when it came to Illinoispolitics, which is seemingly the
end all be, all of his existenceis winning
Speaker 11 (14:38):
Mike Madigan.
You know, whatever I say, andanyone else say good or bad
about him, this man had, has hada mass, a level of power that is
unprecedented.
We will never see it again.
His fifth years of raintranslated to many times there
were way too many examples ofpublic corruption that was under
(15:02):
his watch as a leader inpolitics.
Speaker 8 (15:06):
I just have a certain amount of respect or a great
deal of respect for hisabilities to get his folks
elected, but where he crossedthe line is it's, it's not that
power was used for things thatshould, wasn't supposed to be
used for.
And if you look at therelationship between his real
estate tax appeals practice andhis position as speaker of the
house, and there are many, many,many, many other instances that
(15:27):
will report it on some of them,weren't where Mike Madigan used
his position and his authority,um, in a manner, which I think
is corrupt.
If you look at the condition ofthe state and particularly it,
where we are sitting right nowand how the tax appeal process
has been screwed up terribly tothe detriment of many, many poor
people in the state.
I go, I think you can point thefinger, right?
It might be
Speaker 6 (15:47):
If he winds up not being indicted and convicted,
then I would say, you know, hebecomes this, this is kind of a
subject that, you know, studentsof government study for a long
time about how did this guymanaged to stay in power for as
long as he did.
I mean, I don't know how old youwere, uh, Justin in 1971, but I
was in first grade.
(16:08):
The, the idea that like a guycould stay in power for that
long is, uh, it is, it isdefinitely worthy of study.
How did it happen?
And, and is it a good thing
Speaker 12 (16:20):
Or a bad thing?
He was absolutely a powerfulpolitician who changed the
landscape and sort of boostedthe Chicago way if you will, uh,
throughout Illinois.
Um, and that, that won't everchange, whether he'll be viewed
as corrupt.
A lot of people certainly doview him, regardless of what
happens with the CommonwealthEdison situation as corrupt, and
(16:43):
as somebody who played insiderbaseball on inside a rules,
connived his way throughIllinois politics.
Some people absolutely believethat, but, you know, he would be
able to, as he stands today tosay, I haven't been charged with
, with anything, let aloneconvicted.
And that would be true.
So, you know, and that I playedby the rules and it, politics is
(17:03):
an ugly business.
And so I think that is still anunanswered question.
After so many years of livingunder Mike Madigan as speaker of
the house, that's still, isn't ahundred percent answered.
Speaker 13 (17:17):
I would believe that if Madigan looks back on his
legacy and his career, he failedthe black community.
Big time.
When we talk about Illinoisbeing a union state and Madigan
defending union rights and unionlabor and labor black people
(17:42):
were not a part of thatworkforce.
Mike Madigan had the power tomake sure that the black
community had a, when you go upand down the streets and you see
construction projects going on,he had the power to make sure it
was diverse.
There is no doubt that thepeople that live in Mike
Madigan's district they're inthe middle class, not because
(18:04):
they are doctors and lawyers,but because they are city
workers, state workers, and theyhave contracts from government.
So these people in theseneighborhoods were given
opportunities through MikeMadigan and his relationships,
black people were not giventhose opportunities.
(18:25):
And that's where you see afailed democratic party and
Chicago, and in Illinois,
Speaker 14 (18:33):
In some ways I think Madigan is the quintessential
Chicago machine politician.
I mean, he came up in thatorganization, learned it,
breathed it, and like the partof him that ultimately led to
his end, I think was like trueblue Chicago machine of like,
I'm gonna look out for so-and-soand the neighborhood's kid and
(18:58):
make sure they have aninternship.
Like that's.
I mean, could it be more of aclassic Chicago machine story
than that?
Right.
But I think also he transcendedthe Chicago machine and came to
this level of statewide power.
I don't think he
Speaker 8 (19:13):
Do it any more because that old system, I, my
opinion anyway, was based onpatronage and getting people,
jobs that worked for you.
And I think the law has evolved.
And the way people view thatkind of behavior has evolved
that it's just not going tohappen anymore.
People don't get jobs like theyused to for, for political
favors.
So I think there might be powerin other ways, and maybe the new
(19:34):
powers money, which is equallycorrupt, but I don't think
you'll ever see another Madigan.
Speaker 15 (19:38):
Well, my personal view is elected officials who
have a position elected by thevoters to be in government,
should not be party officials.
I think the party should havedifferent people in those
important spots, includingchairman of the party.
I really think it's unhealthyhaving too much power
concentrated in one person isbad for Illinois.
(20:01):
I was for term limits.
I think in retrospect, MikeMadigan would have been much,
much better off if we had wonthat court cases.
I'm sure it would have passedthe referendum for term limits
ages enough.
He would have had eight moreyears.
And, um, we go
Speaker 16 (20:17):
Looking at how long he was there.
Look at, look at how much powerhe had.
He controlled the generalassembly.
He controlled the democraticparty.
He became a multimultimillionaire, strongly
wealthy from his all his onlything was politics.
Speaker 2 (20:31):
Not long after I first spoke out, I was at a
democratic party of Evanstonevent, um, and was seated with
the late AB Mikva who had askedto be seated with me cause he
wanted a chance to talk to meabout what had just happened.
And, and he, he gave me a lot ofgave me a lot of love for it,
but also said, you know, I'vealways told folks that the best
(20:55):
and the worst things that havecome out of Illinois politics
have Madigan's fingerprints allover them.
And we can't forget the bestpart, but we really got to deal
with the worst part.
And, and I really carried thatwith me for the remainder of, of
this process of, you know, justthis, this really thoughtful
guy, you know, who, who you knowis Alliant to all his, so many
(21:16):
of us in progressive politics,you know, that little nugget of
wisdom.
I just carried it around in mypocket, like a worry stone.
You know, he's just a guy,right?
He happens.
He's a guy who's very, very goodat his job, but we all have the
same job.
And, you know, looking at him asa human, makes it a lot easier
to do what you need to do to getjustice for yourself.
Speaker 13 (21:35):
I think it will be very, very hard to believe.
Some one would come along andduplicate what Madigan has done.
The politics nowadays are somuch different.
And he was so incrediblydisciplined that he was there
from the beginning of theconstitution, sitting on the
constitutional convention thatput the constitution in place in
(21:58):
1970, all the way up to 2021,that is an incredible run.
He was the speaker 36 year run.
It's the nation's longest.
I don't see anybody passing that
Speaker 15 (22:12):
I think 20 years from now, uh, when Mike
Madigan's camp comes up topeople who were contemporaries
of his, what, what you're goingto get is a lot of what we got a
chuckle and an eye roll andsaying, you gotta lift Chicago,
man.
Uh, because he is a product ofthis town and he's not the only
one it's, uh, it's, it's a longhistory of people like that who
(22:35):
undercurrent of corruption,whether it's actually there or
not.
Uh, and, uh, uh, no matter whathappens with this comment thing
and, and it seems to berailroaded serious.
I think that that's essentiallywhat his legacy legacy is going
to be.
Yeah, he was a very powerful guyfor very long, but you gotta,
you know, you gotta love him.
You gotta love, you gotta lovethat guy.
(22:56):
He, he knew how to work at
Speaker 1 (23:06):
On the next episode of the Madigan rule.
The final episode, the ongoingfederal investigation into
Michael J Madigan comment, theMadigan rule is produced by me,
Justin Kaufman in associationwith the BGA, the executive
producer, David[inaudible]special, thanks to Steve Edwards
for story consulting and to AlexSugihara for the music.
Shout out to the Tribune'saward-winning series.
(23:27):
The Madigan rules written by theBJ's John Chase and David
Kidwell.
Back in 2014, you can check itout and trip archives to find
out more about the BGAsinvestigative reporting and
watchdog efforts go towww.bettergov.org.
In the spring of 2011, Kelly Cassidy won a
special election to fill avacancy in the Illinois house.
She beat out more than 20opponents for the role with her
victory.
She not only became a staterepresentative.
She became part of thedemocratic house caucus led by
speaker and party chairman MikeMadigan, like others, Cassidy
(00:25):
knew of Madigan's power andinfluence, even though she was a
freshman representative, shewasn't a newcomer to state
politics.
She worked for a powerful stateSenator John Cullerton back in
the nineties, but as a newelected representative, she
began to question Madigan'spower over her and her
colleagues.
Speaker 2 (00:42):
Pivotal moment.
For me, that really changed mythought process.
As far as operating within thatcaucus was in my first summer in
office.
We had a special session day andwe were in, in caucus in a, in a
committee hearing room.
The fire alarm went off and I doto fleet, put my things in my
bag and stood up and lookedaround and nobody was moving.
(01:04):
I was the only person standing.
There were folks with concerned,looks on their faces, but I just
was like, what just happenedhere?
And then he, he motioned foreveryone to rise with his hands
and we all stood up and walkedout.
And I just spent the rest of theday wondering what in the name
of God I had just experienced.
And that probably set me downthe questioning path a little
(01:26):
more quickly than I maybe wouldhave gotten there on my own.
Speaker 1 (01:38):
I'm Justin Kaufman.
This is the Madigan rule episodefour.
What goes up podcast is aproduction of the better
government association.
Madigan's 36 years as housespeaker loaded with controversy
throughout his tenuregovernment, reformers
Republicans.
And even some Democratscomplained about how much
control he had over stategovernment.
(01:59):
They bristled at the brazen way.
He used his political power todrive business for his law firm
and the way he seemed to caremore about power than public
policy, many speculated aboutethics violations, conflicts of
interest and corruptionallegations.
Over the years, investigativejournalists and federal
prosecutors uncovered widespreadevidence of corruption inside
(02:20):
Chicago city hall, the judicialsystem, the secretary of state's
office and transit agencies likeMetra.
There were bribery scandals payto play schemes and
investigations involving coastpayrolling jobs for political
favors and performing campaignwork on government time.
But throughout his 50 years inoffice, Madigan himself was
never prosecuted for wrongdoing.
(02:41):
And each time a scandal effectedthe democratic party, Madigan
would preside over thelegislative effort to pass
reforms to state law, but astime went on more serious cracks
and Madigan's armor began toappear.
One of the biggest came in early2018 pop story here is emotional
Speaker 3 (02:59):
This morning from a woman who once worked for
speaker Mike Madigan's office,as she detailed sexual
harassment allegations by hersupervisor,
Speaker 1 (03:06):
A key ant
Speaker 4 (03:07):
And claims that her career with sabotage
Speaker 1 (03:10):
Speaker Michael Madigan is facing the scrutiny
for his handling of sexualharassment
Speaker 2 (03:16):
Firestorm,
Speaker 1 (03:17):
Including one candidate made the national
swirl of the me too movement.
A 28 year old female stafferfrom Madigan's organization came
forward to claim.
She was repeatedly sexuallyharassed by a member of
Madigan's team.
And Madigan did nothing to stopit.
Her name, Elena Hampton.
Speaker 5 (03:33):
I was terrified there was no HR set up in this
organization.
So the only two options I had toreport it to was the brother of
my harasser or the most powerfulpolitician in the state.
Mike Madigan.
I opted to go with the brotherof my harasser and I was in a
really bad position.
(03:54):
I didn't have a good option toget
Speaker 1 (03:57):
When Hampton went public with her claim, state
representative Kelly Cassidystepped forward to demand
answers from Madigan and laterled a very public push for
reform.
Speaker 2 (04:07):
Th the most telling thing about Elena's story.
And so many of the othersurvivors that we, that we've
ended up speaking to over theyears since we've come forward,
it is just how common theexperiences.
I mean, I was, I was very youngstaffer on campaigns and you
know, a lot of what is not okaytoday was brushed aside.
(04:27):
I mean, if you're a womanworking in politics, you knew
that you didn't have anywhere toturn the typical process for
handling a complaint like thisin a, in a campaign would be
what he tried to do in thisinstance, which is knock it off.
And that was, that was obviouslynot enough.
Anyone else who was harassingsomeone on a campaign would get
(04:48):
a, knock it off and wouldprobably knock it off.
Um, he thought that knock it offwas the appropriate response.
Cause it always worked before
Speaker 1 (04:57):
Hampton worked for Madigan's political operation
for five years first as a fieldorganizer for candidates.
And that is a program specialistwithin the office of the speaker
of the house.
Speaker 5 (05:06):
I was a little naive about the situation when I
reported it.
I reported it twice.
The second time I mailed aletter to his house.
I thought that he would call mepersonally, but his lawyer did.
And I think I should have knownfrom that point that it was
going to be really serious.
Two months went by where hislawyer didn't follow up with me.
(05:29):
I was in denial for a couple ofmonths.
And then when the story wentpublic, I had hired attorneys.
I think it kind of caught themoff guard because I was such a
loyal employee to them for solong.
And I was always the employeethat said yes to everything they
asked me to do.
I mean, really I worked all overthe suburbs all over the city
(05:50):
that so many staterepresentatives know who I am
because he would send me out totheir campaigns to knock on
doors.
So I think I was naive in thissituation and I think I caught
them off,
Speaker 1 (06:01):
Sorry.
Hampton filed a federaldiscrimination lawsuit against
the democratic party ofIllinois, the democratic
majority, the 13th warddemocratic organization and the
friends of Michael J Madigancampaign fund.
Speaker 5 (06:13):
People would read my story.
They would think, wow, she's sobrave.
And this is such a monumentalmoment that someone would act so
young, a young woman would goagainst the most powerful man.
And I think I never saw it thatway.
And I think it's in part becauseI worked with him more
frequently than most.
(06:33):
And I didn't just read about himin the paper or see him on TV.
He was very humanized to me.
So I never felt like I was, youknow, suing this extremely
powerful man.
I felt like I was seekingjustice for myself.
And I felt like if I did this,it would be helpful for people
in the future as well.
(06:55):
But working for the mostpowerful man, I mean, it was a
learning experience to say theleast, and I wish it could have
been different, but I stilllearned a lot.
Speaker 1 (07:06):
Hampton story led to a number of new state laws and
procedures to help protect womenfrom harassment and
discrimination.
Madigan's long-time chief ofstaff, Tim Mapes resigned over
the scandal and it led many tocall for Madigan to resign as
well.
But Madigan weathered the storm.
He went on to win reelection in2018 and a year later, he
settled the lawsuit with Hamptonfor$275,000.
(07:36):
Elena Hampton, sexual harassmentclaims.
Weren't the only challenges toMadigan's power and reputation,
a growing fiscal crisis in thestate, including ballooning,
pension debt, rising taxes andlower bond ratings, angered many
voters, some took their angerout on the governor's office,
but over time, more and morepeople recognize the one
constant over the last fivedecades.
Wasn't the governor.
(07:57):
It was Michael Madigan.
And then there was politicalpatronage, the practice of
providing jobs for politicalloyalists.
It was outlawed in 1991 as partof the Shackman decree.
But in 2013 and investigationshowed it was still happening,
just not in government instead,an independent agencies, here's
WBC reporter, Dave McKinney
Speaker 6 (08:18):
Laid bare how patronage was alive and well in
Illinois.
And Mike Madigan was a master ofit.
And you know, you talked to theformer executive director of
Metro, Alex, Clifford, whobasically forced out of his job.
And you know, this happenedafter he put on the brakes to,
uh, you know, efforts to get payincreases for some, some Madigan
people you're talking about arail agency that that delivers
(08:42):
pre pandemic that was deliveringhundreds of thousands of
commuters to their, their jobsdowntown every single day.
And yet it was just a dumpingground for people that had, you
know, circulated petitions forMike Madigan or who were
precinct captains for him, orwho did something else that he
wanted for them.
You know, you scratch my back.
I'll scratch yours.
It's the very old way, the oldChicago way of doing business.
(09:05):
And he was a master of it
Speaker 1 (09:07):
In the end, Madigan weather, the Metro scandal too.
But six years later, a newfederal investigation surface
that would directly implicateMadigan and his top associates.
And this time Madigan wouldn'tbe so fortunate.
Speaker 7 (09:18):
It's about an hour ago for people charged in the
comment, bribery, scandalpleaded not guilty.
The defendants include one ofthe closest confidant
Speaker 8 (09:26):
For lawmakers announcing today that they are
joining the growing chorus ofthose who say they will not
support Mike Madigan's bid to bereelected speaker in January.
And the governor people chargedin a bribery screen.
That's in Royal house speaker,Michael Madigan entered not
guilty pleas Madigan saying in astatement, the truth is I have
never engaged in anyinappropriate or criminal
conduct, despite baselessspeculation, alluding to the
(09:49):
complaint.
Speaker 1 (09:49):
The 19 federal prosecutors opened an
investigation into the state'slargest electric utility
Commonwealth Edison.
They accused the CEO and othertop leaders in the company of
illegally providing jobs tomembers of Madigan's team in
exchange for favorablelegislative and regulatory
treatment.
So far, the investigation hasled to the indictments of four
people, including Madigan'sconfidant.
(10:09):
Mike McLean, also Madigan'schief of staff, Tim Mapes also
charged for perjury forallegedly lying to a grand jury,
but the investigation and thetrials related to it, aren't
over federal indictments, allbut named Madigan as public
official.
A so far Madigan has not beenindicted despite the growing
questions, voters reelectedMichael Madigan for the 25th
(10:32):
consecutive time in November of2020.
But by the time he was sworninto office, two months later,
things had changed dramaticallyin January of this year.
The rock solidly loyaldemocratic caucus refused to
reelect him as speaker of thehouse.
And just like that.
After a series of deadlockvotes, Madigan was gone.
(10:56):
He resigned to speakership andshortly thereafter resigned his
seat and the state legislature aCD held for 50 years when he
left, he stepped down as thelongest serving house leader in
American history, politicalreporter, Amanda Vinicky was
there.
Speaker 9 (11:11):
It's striking to me, I guess, is kind of these two
visuals of Madigan, right?
So he loses the speaker's raceand made some comments on the
floor, but it wasn't aparticularly poignant speech and
then left when it's overanswers, a couple of questions,
(11:35):
nothing truly meaningful, andthen walked down this hallway by
his lonesome, if it was a movie.
I mean, if this podcast was afilm, there you go.
It's the it's end.
And it is something cinematicwalked off.
(12:00):
Although
Speaker 10 (12:12):
[inaudible],
Speaker 9 (12:13):
It is we talk, you cannot ignore the comment
scandal, but he hasn't beenindicted to nice knowledge of
any scheme, let aloneparticipation in it and may
never be.
And yet what a downfall and wwhat, what a quick turn.
(12:33):
And it is incredible to me, howalmost quietly he left that
stage, both literally andmetaphorically when he lost the
speaker's race out of it.
Really.
Although, again, let's touch onthat.
It's still pretty incrediblethat your public official a and
(12:54):
had fewer than 20 members of acaucus leave you.
I mean, that is loyalty,
Speaker 1 (13:07):
Loyalty, discipline discretion, controlling the
money and controlling thespoils, mastering the rules and
making the rules.
Madigan mastered the art ofpolitics over 50 years and ruled
with unquestioned power andinfluence during his tenure.
But in the end, what is hislegacy?
We pose that very question todozens of people.
(13:29):
We interviewed for this podcast,including loyalists and
reformers Democrats andRepublicans, governors,
legislators, and reporters.
Speaker 9 (13:43):
Of course, you're going to get a lot of laws is if
you've been around for half acentury, what's hits.
That's really the question inthe chameleon part plays in.
It's not as if he was thespeaker elected to improve
education.
He didn't have a mission to makeIllinois the most diverse or to
(14:11):
bring in business to improve thestate's fiscal footing.
He didn't have that.
He had seemingly as what was inhis heart soul, what he woke up
with an eye toward and his goalwhen he went to bed at night, at
(14:31):
least when it came to Illinoispolitics, which is seemingly the
end all be, all of his existenceis winning
Speaker 11 (14:38):
Mike Madigan.
You know, whatever I say, andanyone else say good or bad
about him, this man had, has hada mass, a level of power that is
unprecedented.
We will never see it again.
His fifth years of raintranslated to many times there
were way too many examples ofpublic corruption that was under
(15:02):
his watch as a leader inpolitics.
Speaker 8 (15:06):
I just have a certain amount of respect or a great
deal of respect for hisabilities to get his folks
elected, but where he crossedthe line is it's, it's not that
power was used for things thatshould, wasn't supposed to be
used for.
And if you look at therelationship between his real
estate tax appeals practice andhis position as speaker of the
house, and there are many, many,many, many other instances that
(15:27):
will report it on some of them,weren't where Mike Madigan used
his position and his authority,um, in a manner, which I think
is corrupt.
If you look at the condition ofthe state and particularly it,
where we are sitting right nowand how the tax appeal process
has been screwed up terribly tothe detriment of many, many poor
people in the state.
I go, I think you can point thefinger, right?
It might be
Speaker 6 (15:47):
If he winds up not being indicted and convicted,
then I would say, you know, hebecomes this, this is kind of a
subject that, you know, studentsof government study for a long
time about how did this guymanaged to stay in power for as
long as he did.
I mean, I don't know how old youwere, uh, Justin in 1971, but I
was in first grade.
(16:08):
The, the idea that like a guycould stay in power for that
long is, uh, it is, it isdefinitely worthy of study.
How did it happen?
And, and is it a good thing
Speaker 12 (16:20):
Or a bad thing?
He was absolutely a powerfulpolitician who changed the
landscape and sort of boostedthe Chicago way if you will, uh,
throughout Illinois.
Um, and that, that won't everchange, whether he'll be viewed
as corrupt.
A lot of people certainly doview him, regardless of what
happens with the CommonwealthEdison situation as corrupt, and
(16:43):
as somebody who played insiderbaseball on inside a rules,
connived his way throughIllinois politics.
Some people absolutely believethat, but, you know, he would be
able to, as he stands today tosay, I haven't been charged with
, with anything, let aloneconvicted.
And that would be true.
So, you know, and that I playedby the rules and it, politics is
(17:03):
an ugly business.
And so I think that is still anunanswered question.
After so many years of livingunder Mike Madigan as speaker of
the house, that's still, isn't ahundred percent answered.
Speaker 13 (17:17):
I would believe that if Madigan looks back on his
legacy and his career, he failedthe black community.
Big time.
When we talk about Illinoisbeing a union state and Madigan
defending union rights and unionlabor and labor black people
(17:42):
were not a part of thatworkforce.
Mike Madigan had the power tomake sure that the black
community had a, when you go upand down the streets and you see
construction projects going on,he had the power to make sure it
was diverse.
There is no doubt that thepeople that live in Mike
Madigan's district they're inthe middle class, not because
(18:04):
they are doctors and lawyers,but because they are city
workers, state workers, and theyhave contracts from government.
So these people in theseneighborhoods were given
opportunities through MikeMadigan and his relationships,
black people were not giventhose opportunities.
(18:25):
And that's where you see afailed democratic party and
Chicago, and in Illinois,
Speaker 14 (18:33):
In some ways I think Madigan is the quintessential
Chicago machine politician.
I mean, he came up in thatorganization, learned it,
breathed it, and like the partof him that ultimately led to
his end, I think was like trueblue Chicago machine of like,
I'm gonna look out for so-and-soand the neighborhood's kid and
(18:58):
make sure they have aninternship.
Like that's.
I mean, could it be more of aclassic Chicago machine story
than that?
Right.
But I think also he transcendedthe Chicago machine and came to
this level of statewide power.
I don't think he
Speaker 8 (19:13):
Do it any more because that old system, I, my
opinion anyway, was based onpatronage and getting people,
jobs that worked for you.
And I think the law has evolved.
And the way people view thatkind of behavior has evolved
that it's just not going tohappen anymore.
People don't get jobs like theyused to for, for political
favors.
So I think there might be powerin other ways, and maybe the new
(19:34):
powers money, which is equallycorrupt, but I don't think
you'll ever see another Madigan.
Speaker 15 (19:38):
Well, my personal view is elected officials who
have a position elected by thevoters to be in government,
should not be party officials.
I think the party should havedifferent people in those
important spots, includingchairman of the party.
I really think it's unhealthyhaving too much power
concentrated in one person isbad for Illinois.
(20:01):
I was for term limits.
I think in retrospect, MikeMadigan would have been much,
much better off if we had wonthat court cases.
I'm sure it would have passedthe referendum for term limits
ages enough.
He would have had eight moreyears.
And, um, we go
Speaker 16 (20:17):
Looking at how long he was there.
Look at, look at how much powerhe had.
He controlled the generalassembly.
He controlled the democraticparty.
He became a multimultimillionaire, strongly
wealthy from his all his onlything was politics.
Speaker 2 (20:31):
Not long after I first spoke out, I was at a
democratic party of Evanstonevent, um, and was seated with
the late AB Mikva who had askedto be seated with me cause he
wanted a chance to talk to meabout what had just happened.
And, and he, he gave me a lot ofgave me a lot of love for it,
but also said, you know, I'vealways told folks that the best
(20:55):
and the worst things that havecome out of Illinois politics
have Madigan's fingerprints allover them.
And we can't forget the bestpart, but we really got to deal
with the worst part.
And, and I really carried thatwith me for the remainder of, of
this process of, you know, justthis, this really thoughtful
guy, you know, who, who you knowis Alliant to all his, so many
(21:16):
of us in progressive politics,you know, that little nugget of
wisdom.
I just carried it around in mypocket, like a worry stone.
You know, he's just a guy,right?
He happens.
He's a guy who's very, very goodat his job, but we all have the
same job.
And, you know, looking at him asa human, makes it a lot easier
to do what you need to do to getjustice for yourself.
Speaker 13 (21:35):
I think it will be very, very hard to believe.
Some one would come along andduplicate what Madigan has done.
The politics nowadays are somuch different.
And he was so incrediblydisciplined that he was there
from the beginning of theconstitution, sitting on the
constitutional convention thatput the constitution in place in
(21:58):
1970, all the way up to 2021,that is an incredible run.
He was the speaker 36 year run.
It's the nation's longest.
I don't see anybody passing that
Speaker 15 (22:12):
I think 20 years from now, uh, when Mike
Madigan's camp comes up topeople who were contemporaries
of his, what, what you're goingto get is a lot of what we got a
chuckle and an eye roll andsaying, you gotta lift Chicago,
man.
Uh, because he is a product ofthis town and he's not the only
one it's, uh, it's, it's a longhistory of people like that who
(22:35):
undercurrent of corruption,whether it's actually there or
not.
Uh, and, uh, uh, no matter whathappens with this comment thing
and, and it seems to berailroaded serious.
I think that that's essentiallywhat his legacy legacy is going
to be.
Yeah, he was a very powerful guyfor very long, but you gotta,
you know, you gotta love him.
You gotta love, you gotta lovethat guy.
(22:56):
He, he knew how to work at
Speaker 1 (23:06):
On the next episode of the Madigan rule.
The final episode, the ongoingfederal investigation into
Michael J Madigan comment, theMadigan rule is produced by me,
Justin Kaufman in associationwith the BGA, the executive
producer, David[inaudible]special, thanks to Steve Edwards
for story consulting and to AlexSugihara for the music.
Shout out to the Tribune'saward-winning series.
(23:27):
The Madigan rules written by theBJ's John Chase and David
Kidwell.
Back in 2014, you can check itout and trip archives to find
out more about the BGAsinvestigative reporting and
watchdog efforts go towww.bettergov.org.
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