Politics
CHICAGO — After secretly recording then-Illinois House Speaker Michael Madigan and other political insiders for more than a year, FBI agents fanned out in dramatic fashion to raid the homes of various Madigan allies in May 2019. They rummaged around in a long row of filing cabinets in the basement office of the Quincy home of Michael…
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CHICAGO – Former Commonwealth Edison executive Fidel Marquez had been a government informant for less than a month when he had a meeting with longtime Illinois House Speaker Michael Madigan in mid-February 2019. The meeting was routine; Marquez, another executive and ComEd’s relatively new CEO met with Madigan at the beginning of the General Assembly’s…
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QUINCY — ComEd and Exelon faced another round of serious negotiations over legislation in Springfield early in 2019, and former ComEd lobbyist Michael McClain had a problem. The longtime confidant ofthen-Illinois House Speaker Michael Madigan had already retired from his lobbying job, so Madigan asked who would serve as ComEd’s “lead” on the bill. McClain couldn’t…
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SPRINGFIELD — A rush of legislation passed before a Friday deadline in the Senate included proposals aimed at protecting those seeking reproductive health care in Illinois. The first of these proposals, Senate Bill 1909, would give the state’s attorney general explicit authority to crack down on “limited services pregnancy centers,” which are also known as crisis…
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CHICAGO — About an hour before sunrise on a mid-January morning in 2019, two FBI agents arrived at the home of Fidel Marquez’s mother, where the longtime executive of Commonwealth Edison had been staying. The agents played a series of recordings of wiretapped phone calls for Marquez, featuring Marquez himself. When other people in the…
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CHICAGO – In the weeks following then-Illinois House Speaker Michael Madigan’s forced ouster of his longtime chief of staff following allegations of sexual harassment, a high-ranking Commonwealth Edison official was considering how to help the disgraced Madigan ally. Tim Mapes had served as Madigan’s chief of staff for more than 25 years and further solidified…
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In intense courtroom moment, government’s star witness accused of saving his own skin CHICAGO – About an hour before sunrise on a mid-January morning in 2019, two FBI agents arrived at the home of Fidel Marquez’s mother, where the longtime executive of Commonwealth Edison had been staying. The agents played a series of recordings of…
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QUINCY — A large full-color mail piece showing support for the three incumbents and one newcomer who are candidates for the Quincy School Board hit voters mailboxes this week. Quincy School Board President Shelley Arns, board members Jim Whitfield and LaTonya Brock and newcomer Curtis Sethaler are featured on the 11-inch by 13-inch piece printed…
Read Full Article CHICAGO — Michael McClain laughed inside Saputo’s restaurant in Springfield as he shared with then-ComEd executive Fidel Marquez his story about his 2016 retirement, and how he handed his list of duties over to Illinois House Speaker Michael Madigan. Madigan and McClain were longtime friends. McClain has described himself as an “agent” of Madigan. And after McClain…
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CHICAGO — Longtime Commonwealth Edison contract lobbyist Jay Doherty thought he was merely reminiscing and giving advice to a colleague and friend in a February 2019 meeting set up by ex-ComEd executive Fidel Marquez. But Marquez was wearing a hidden camera, having just a few weeks prior agreed to cooperate with the government’s investigation of…
Read Full Article Former ComEd executive turned government informant Fidel Marquez called his ex-boss a “close” and “personal friend,” then detailed how she funneled hundreds of thousands of dollars to associates of former House Speaker Michael Madigan to stay on his winning side. The government’s star witness took the stand at the ComEd bribery trial on Monday as prosecutors presented FBI recordings…
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SPRINGFIELD – The Illinois House narrowly passed a bill Thursday that would allow businesses, universities and other building owners to designate multi-occupancy all-gender bathrooms if they choose to do so. The bill passed on a vote of 60-40, the bare minimum number of “yes” votes needed for passage in the 118-member House, after the presiding…
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SPRINGFIELD – Lawmakers are considering bills that would create a new tax credit for affordable housing, referred to as the “Build Illinois Homes Tax Credit.” The legislation, contained in the identical House Bill 2044 and Senate Bill 1737, would mirror a federal program administered by the Illinois Housing Development Authority and Chicago Department of Housing which helps finance affordable housing…
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CHICAGO – As was the case with many big legislative efforts in Springfield, former Illinois House Speaker Mike Madigan’s staff was deeply involved in negotiations over what would become the Future Energy Jobs Act in 2015 and 2016. FEJA had many backers in environmental circles and organized labor – two key constituencies for Democrats in…
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CHICAGO – In April 2017, a top staffer in then-Illinois House Speaker Michael Madigan’s office was looking to leave his job after a combined nearly 18 years working for the speaker’s office and as his political director. Will Cousineau applied for a high-level job with electric utility Commonwealth Edison, and the director of ComEd’s human…
Read Full Article CHICAGO – Being the longtime friend of longtime Illinois House Speaker Michael Madigan granted Mike McClain certain privileges not afforded to other lobbyists in Springfield, jurors heard in a federal corruption trial that, in part, centers around the relationship between the two. McClain “had pretty free access” to the offices in Madigan’s suite on the…
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The Illinois House passed 41 bills to the Senate Tuesday ahead of a scheduled Friday deadline. The measures, among others, included a ban on polystyrene food containers, bills focusing on gender inclusivity in state law and a requirement that expectant parents have a “duty” to split pregnancy-related costs, including for abortions. Below are a few…
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Jury hears 16 more recorded calls; Rep. says Madigan ruled ‘through fear and intimidation’ CHICAGO – Facing a perceived betrayal during a make-or-break election season in 2018, former Illinois House Speaker Michael Madigan called the person he often sought counsel from: longtime friend and confidant Mike McClain. Several Democratic candidates running for the state Senate…
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CHICAGO — A veteran Democratic state lawmaker who sponsored major gaming legislation in the Illinois House of Representatives told a federal jury Monday that former Speaker Michael Madigan once ruled that chamber “through fear and intimidation.” When asked what Madigan valued most in other legislators, state Rep. Robert “Bob” Rita answered, “loyalty.” And before the…
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Missouri is one of just 13 states that levies a sales tax on grocery food items. Citing the hefty burden on low-income shoppers and rising cost of food, several other states have moved to reduce the burden of the grocery sales tax. Kansas began phasing it out this year and Illinois suspended the tax for one year. But in Missouri, renewed bipartisan…
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SPRINGFIELD – Illinois lawmakers are debating whether the state should join a growing list of jurisdictions in the United States that allow voters to pick more than one candidate for an office, ranking them in order of preference rather than choosing just one. Ranked choice voting, or as it’s sometimes called, “instant runoff voting,” actually…
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CHICAGO – In fall 2018, longtime former State Rep. Lou Lang, D-Skokie, received a phone call from Mike McClain, who had spent decades lobbying for electric utility Commonwealth Edison after 10 years in the General Assembly. McClain was delivering a message from House Speaker Michael Madigan, who was worried Lang was becoming a liability to…
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CHICAGO – Michael J. Madigan couldn’t be bothered to call one of his top deputies, who had decades of experience in the legislature, to tell him it was time to step down over a brewing allegation of misconduct that might go public. So the powerful Illinois House speaker got on the phone with his key…
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Trial’s second day included hours of opening arguments, first witness CHICAGO – Former Illinois House Speaker Michael Madigan isn’t set to go on trial for racketeering and corruption charges until next summer, but his decades of power in Illinois government and politics loomed large Wednesday as opening arguments got underway in a related case. Madigan’s name…
Read Full Article CHICAGO — For the first time since their indictment on corruption and bribery charges in November 2020, three former lobbyists and one former executive of electric utility Commonwealth Edison appeared at the Dirksen Federal Courthouse in Chicago on Tuesday – the first day of what’s expected to be a six-to-eight-week trial. It’s Illinois’ biggest public…
Read Full Article November 13, 2024
DAILY MUDDY: QUINCY HOBBY CENTER CLOSING AND EFB COFFEE TALK
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