“The Velvet Hammer.” “Sphinx.” “King of Illinois.” “The Wizard of Oz.” “The Real Governor of Illinois.” “Himself.”
Michael Madigan was called all of these names and more during his five-decade career in public office. During that time, he became one of the most powerful men in Illinois history.
He holds the record for the longest-serving legislative leader in any state or Congress, earned a national reputation for reshaping state and national politics by drawing and redrawing Illinois’ legislative maps, and personally oversaw every major piece of legislation in Illinois for almost forty years.
Now, he stands convicted of running a yearslong racketeering ring involving multiple bribery schemes.
Who is Madigan? How did he amass his power? What did he accomplish at the highest levels of state politics and government over his years in office?
He was born April 19, 1942 and grew up in Marquette Park, he attends St. Adrian Catholic School and St. Ignatius High School. He will live in Chicago’s 13th Ward on the Southwest Side for the rest of his life.
A political family
Madigan’s father, also named Michael, is a precinct captain in Chicago’s 13th Ward and the ward superintendent for the city’s sanitation department. Through his father, Madigan gets jobs working for the city and makes connections with the 13th Ward Committeeman and Cook County Clerk Michael J. Flynn as well as legendary Mayor Richard J. Daley and his son, the future Mayor Richard M. Daley. Madigan would later become Democratic committeeman for the 13th Ward, an important step in building his political empire.
Madigan meets Mayor Daley
Chicago Tribune reporter Ray Long notes in his biography of Madigan that “To Michael J. Madigan, there are few political figures who stand as tall as Richard J. Daley.” The longtime mayor of Chicago and last boss of the legendary Chicago political machine, mentors Madigan early in his career.
Madigan elected to Constitutional Convention
Winning his first election, Madigan is selected as a delegate to the state’s 1970 Constitutional Convention, which creates the first new state constitution in more than a century. The campaigns leading up to the convention led to a series of court orders in the 1970s and early ‘80s banning political patronage in the city.
Madigan selected as 13th Ward Committeeman
In 1969, Madigan is selected by local precinct captains as Chicago’s 13th Ward Committeeman, a role he will hold onto for more than five decades. For much of that time, the 13th Ward’s Democratic political organization served as the backbone of Madigan’s political machine.
Elected to the Illinois House
Madigan’s 50-year career in the Illinois House of Representatives begins with an easy election win on Nov. 3, 1970.
Founds Madigan & Getzendanner law firm
Madigan’s law firm, led by himself and Loyola law school classmate Vincent “Bud” Getzendanner, starts in 1972 as a general law practice but within a few years begins specializing in property tax appeals. Throughout its history, the firm represents some of the most highly valued buildings in Chicago.
Starting a family
In 1976, Madigan meets Shirley Murray while she works at another Chicago law firm, and they marry after just a few months of dating in 1976. Murray had a daughter, Lisa, from a previous marriage, whom Madigan adopts. Madigan understands the marriage as a “duo package,” according to testimony at his later trial. The couple goes on to have three more children: Tiffany, Nicole and Andrew. Also in 1976, Gov. Dan Walker appoints Shirley to the Illinois Arts Council. She later chairs the state agency’s board from 1983 to 2022.
The ‘Cutback Amendment’ passes
Voters in 1980 approve the “Cutback Amendment,” which reduces the size of the Illinois House from 177 members to 118 beginning with the 1982 election and abolishes “cumulative voting,” which guaranteed bipartisan representation in each House district. Madigan, speaking at the inauguration of the first House of Representatives post-amendment, says it is a “new era.”
Madigan draws his first maps
Following the 1980 Census, lawmakers embark on drawing new legislative districts. Future GOP Gov. George Ryan is Speaker of the House. During a contentious debate, as Ryan attempts to approve maps that favored Republicans, Democrats “stormed the podium,” per a United Press International report. After breaking for caucus, Democrats return to the floor to find armed Capitol police guarding the podium — a move that Madigan compares to “Nazi Germany and dictatorial regimes.” That measure ultimately fails, sending it to a redistricting commission that adopts maps drawn by Madigan. This was the first time the future speaker oversaw redistricting—which becomes the bedrock of his grip on power.
Madigan elected speaker
Madigan is first elected House speaker in 1983, unanimously chosen by his House colleagues. At the time, he outlines his top priorities. “Crime has not decreased,” Madigan says in his first speech as speaker. “We still have not funded education in our state. We still have not properly funded an adequate transportation system for downstate and for upstate. So, as we begin this new era, we can look upon the same problems that we attempted to solve in the last era.”
Madigan stops time
After White Sox owner Jerry Reinsdorf threatens to move the South Side baseball team to Florida, Madigan and then-Gov. Jim Thompson push through more than $200 million in funding for a new Comiskey Park. But the two men don’t secure the votes until after a midnight deadline which would have raised the requirement from a simple majority vote to three-fifths. So, Madigan “declared” that the vote happened a few minutes earlier, with some alleging that the speaker literally has the clocks of the House chamber stopped a few minutes before midnight.
Madigan in the minority
The only interruption to Madigan’s nearly four decades as Speaker comes in 1994, amid the so-called “Republican Revolution” of that year’s midterm elections. Led by Newt Gingrich, soon to take over as speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives, Republicans across the country pick up seats in Congress and in statehouses. Madigan is succeeded as speaker in 1995 by Lee Daniels, who had served as the minority leader for Madigan’s entire time leading the House. “Mr. Speaker, congratulations. I wish you the best of luck,” Madigan tells Daniels in 1995. “I feel that over my 12 years as Speaker, that you and I were very worthy adversaries when we should have been adversaries.”
Madigan regains speakership
In 1996, after a ferocious devotion to recruiting candidates and backing campaigns for six competitive races in Chicago’s south suburbs, Madigan receives credit for retaking the Illinois House, positioning him to retake the speakership. He remains speaker until 2021. Former 13th Ward precinct captain Ed Moody claims credit years later for helping Democrat Kevin McCarthy come from “nine or 10 or 11 points behind” and win by approximately 50 points. “He was it. He was number 60. We had the majority,” Moody says of McCarthy’s impact on Democrats retaking the House. McCarthy would go on to sponsor the 2011 “Smart Grid” bill, which, according to the feds, was the first law passed due to ComEd’s alleged bribery.
Madigan takes over as Democratic Party chairman
Coming off a political victory in the 1996 elections, party insiders elevate Madigan to chair the state’s Democratic Party. He replaces Gary LaPaille, who was Madigan’s former chief of staff and a close ally. Madigan remains in this post for more than 20 years, using it as a key lever to exert influence on Democratic campaigns.
Madigan feuds with Democratic leaders
In the first election using freshly drawn legislative maps, Democrats win control of both legislative chambers and the governor’s mansion. But Madigan often butts heads with then Gov. Rod Blagojevich and Senate President Emil Jones Jr. Both men accuse Madigan of being too conservative, with Blagojevich calling Madigan a “George Bush Republican” after he opposes a capital spending bill, according to an Associated Press report.
First alleged no-work contract
In August 2011, newly retired Chicago Ald. Frank Olivo of Madigan’s 13th Ward begins his arrangement with longtime city lobbyist Jay Doherty, who expanded his existing contract with electric utility Commonwealth Edison in order to pay Olivo $4,000 each month. That arrangement continues until FBI agents raid Olivo’s and Doherty’s home and offices in May 2019. Prosecutors later allege Olivo’s arrangement was the first of many bribes ComEd offered to Madigan in the form of jobs and contracts for his allies.
Madigan secretly taped by FBI mole
Real estate developer-turned-FBI cooperator See Wong secretly videotapes a meeting on Aug. 18, 2014, in Madigan’s downtown Chicago law office that was arranged by Ald. Danny Solis, the influential chair of the city council’s zoning board. Madigan & Getzendanner don’t end up taking on the client, but it bolsters the FBI’s case to begin wiretapping Solis the next month, which would continue on and off for nearly two years.
Madigan calls Solis
After nearly two years of the FBI wiretapping his cell phone and discovering evidence of corruption, Chicago Ald. Danny Solis agrees to begin cooperating with the government in June 2016. That includes secretly videotaping his colleague Ald. Ed Burke, who is ultimately convicted in his own federal corruption trial in Dec. 2023. In June 2017, Solis returns an out-of-the-blue call from Madigan in which the speaker said he’d like to know the developers of an apartment complex in Chicago’s West Loop neighborhood. An FBI agent overseeing the feds’ ongoing criminal probe testifies years later that the investigation shifted to Madigan after that call. At a meeting several weeks later the speaker says Solis “shouldn’t be talking like that” when the alderman insinuates Madigan was seeking a “quid pro quo.”
Madigan ousts chief of staff
In June 2018, Madigan fires Tim Mapes — who held roles as Madigan’s longtime chief of staff, the clerk of the House of Representatives and director of the Democratic Party of Illinois — after Mapes is accused of sexual harassment and bullying. Madigan allies begin coordinating outreach to crisis communications firms to help “save the speaker.” An investigation into the situation later describes a culture of bullying and harassment in the speaker’s office, led by Mapes. It also finds that the speaker and his allies retaliated against Rep. Kelly Cassidy for speaking out against Madigan’s office’s handling of sexual assault allegations.
FBI investigation details leak
News of the May 2019 FBI raids on Madigan allies begin leaking to the press in the summer of 2019, which continued intermittently through the rest of the year. In September, agents carry out very public raids on another set of political figures, including Democratic state Sen. Marty Sandoval’s Capitol Office. Madigan’s name showed up on subpoenas, among other items of interest.
Madigan suspends speaker campaign
During a grueling lame duck session in Springfield, made more difficult due to COVID-era social distancing conventions, Madigan announces he will suspend his campaign to remain speaker after an internal caucus vote showed him nine votes short of a majority. Opposition to Madigan serving a 19th term as speaker had been growing since the feds announced ComEd’s DPA in the summer and was boosted by the ComEd Four indictments in November. COVID also means most House members had not seen Madigan since a brief session in May 2020, as the traditional fall veto session was also canceled.
Madigan passes speaker’s gavel
Emanuel “Chris” Welch becomes the state’s first Black Speaker of the House. Welch, who’d supported Madigan as part of the Black Caucus’ commitment to him, becomes the consensus candidate after other Madigan challengers drop out of the race. Welch’s ascension coincides with the 50th anniversary of Madigan first taking the oath of office as a state representative.
Madigan resigns House seat
“I leave office at peace with my decision and proud of the many contributions I’ve made to the state of Illinois, and I do so knowing I’ve made a difference,” Madigan says in a statement on Feb, 18, 2021, announcing his resignation. In his farewell statement, he says he is “particularly proud” of increasing the diversity of the House Democratic caucus. Madigan also reflects on other parts of his career: strengthening workers’ rights, raising the minimum wage, school funding reform, strengthening the state’s ethics and campaign finance laws, legalizing same sex marriage, criminal justice reforms, expanding voting rights, keeping the White Sox in Chicago and impeaching Rod Blagojevich among others.
Madigan indicted
On March 2, 2022, a federal grand jury in Chicago indicts Madigan on 22 counts of racketeering, bribery, extortion and wire fraud. The 106-page indictment outlines a nearly decadelong scheme in which Madian allegedly uses his position to enhance his political power and financial well-being while also generating income for his political allies. Mike McClain is also indicted as a co-defendant on several of the charges. An additional count is added later that year. Both Madigan and McClain plead not guilty a week later.
Madigan gives up ward boss role
In late 2023, 13th Ward Ald. Marty Quinn, a longtime Madigan ally, begins circulating petitions to take over the 13th Ward Committeeman role at the 2024 primary. Madigan retains the position through the March 2024 election, but the decision not to run ends Madigan’s five-decade career in elected office.
Madigan’s trial begins
On Oct. 21, 2024, after two weeks of jury selection, opening statements kick off Madigan’s federal corruption trial in Chicago. Despite estimates the trial would end before the holidays, closing arguments won’t wrap up until Jan. 29 The jury hears from more than 60 witnesses, including FBI cooperators Fidel Marquez, who also testified against his former ComEd colleagues in the 2023 trial and ex-Chicago Ald. Danny Solis. Both men secretly videotaped McClain and Madigan. In addition to seeing those tapes, the jury hears more than 100 wiretapped phone calls and saw hundreds of emails and other documents. Most stunningly, Madigan himself takes the witness stand in his own defense in early January, opening him up to blistering cross-examination.
Madigan found guilty
Madigan is convicted of 10 of the 23 charges against him, including three bribery counts related to ComEd providing no-work contracts to his allies and promising to help get Chicago alderman-turned-FBI-mole Danny Solis a lucrative state board position. Madigan is acquitted of seven counts and the jury deadlocks on six others. The jury also deadlocks on those same six charges as they pertain to Mike McClain.
By Andrew Adams and Hannah Meisel
Capitol News Illinois is a nonprofit, nonpartisan news service that distributes state government coverage to hundreds of news outlets statewide. It is funded primarily by the Illinois Press Foundation and the Robert R. McCormick Foundation.
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