It’s February 12, 2025, which means it’s once again time to reset the number on this giant “[X] DAYS SINCE AN ILLINOIS POLITICIAN WAS CONVICTED OF A FELONY” counter I keep posted here on my wall back to zero again. Because Mike Madigan — legendarily grimy Illinois House speaker and all-powerful master of Democratic state politics until his 2021 resignation from office — has finally been convicted by a federal jury of ten felonies: bribery, conspiracy, and wire fraud, among other matters. He was found not guilty on seven other charges as well, but the jury has not finished adjudicating the case fully and has failed to rule on the biggest count of them all, racketeering.
I presume that Madigan is guilty of all of these things and much more besides, regardless of whatever verdicts the jury decides to return. That they have already found him guilty enough for one lifetime is sufficient consolation to me for now. It’s finally over, the Velvet Hammer has been denuded and shattered — and quite conveniently, long after it was far too late for the people of Illinois who suffered under him for 40 years.
Comments