Democracy in Illinois

I see that Illinois’s latest political scandal has caught the eye of the editors of the Wall Street Journal:

The 106-page indictment describes myriad schemes by Mr. Madigan, state House Speaker for 36 years and Democratic Party chairman for 23, to enrich himself and his allies. According to the indictment, he tapped his close friend Michael McClain, a co-defendant, to run the “Madigan enterprise” day-to-day.

Mr. McClain allegedly pressed execs at investor-owned utility ComEd to appoint a Madigan friend to their board, arrange jobs for Democratic Party officials and give contracts to political allies that involved little or no legitimate work. In return, Mr. Madigan steered ComEd’s legislative priorities.

“I am sure you know how valuable [Lawyer A] is to our Friend,” Mr. McClain wrote to the ComEd CEO in 2016. “I know the drill and so do you. If you do not get involve [sic] and resolve this issue of 850 hours for his law firm per year then he will go to our Friend. Our Friend will call me and then I will call you. Is this a drill we must go through?”

The 106-page indictment describes myriad schemes by Mr. Madigan, state House Speaker for 36 years and Democratic Party chairman for 23, to enrich himself and his allies. According to the indictment, he tapped his close friend Michael McClain, a co-defendant, to run the “Madigan enterprise” day-to-day.

Mr. McClain allegedly pressed execs at investor-owned utility ComEd to appoint a Madigan friend to their board, arrange jobs for Democratic Party officials and give contracts to political allies that involved little or no legitimate work. In return, Mr. Madigan steered ComEd’s legislative priorities.

“I am sure you know how valuable [Lawyer A] is to our Friend,” Mr. McClain wrote to the ComEd CEO in 2016. “I know the drill and so do you. If you do not get involve [sic] and resolve this issue of 850 hours for his law firm per year then he will go to our Friend. Our Friend will call me and then I will call you. Is this a drill we must go through?”

In their conclusion they quote the governor:

Regardless, “an indictment of this magnitude is a condemnation of a system infected with promises of pay-to-play,” as Mr. Pritzker said. Democrats dethroned Mr. Madigan as Speaker last January after leaks about the sprawling public corruption investigation helped cost them their progressive tax referendum in November 2020. Mob bosses are only useful until they’re not.

The notion that Gov. Pritzker was unaware of the corruption beggars belief. He was certainly aware of Gov. Blagojevich’s corruption—we have it on tape. I don’t believe the governor is particularly bright but I don’t think he’s as stupid as Blagojevich. And, of course, all of Mr. Madigan’s colleagues in the Illinois House must have been aware of it as well. At the very least they should all be facing indictments for misprision of a felony if not for being accessories before and after the fact.

Mr. Madigan was elected by around 15,000 voters. That’s fewer than 1% of Illinois’s voters. Keep that in mind when making the argument that Illinois has the government its people want. Or if you think the state is a democracy.