METROPOLIS, IL – On Friday, June 13, 2025, former Illinois House Speaker and now convicted felon Michael J. Madigan was sentenced to 7.5 years in prison, 3 years of probation, and a $2.5 million fine after a jury returned ten felony bribery and racketeering convictions in Madigan’s corruption trial.
The former Speaker was indicted for crimes involving collusion with utility giant Commonwealth Edison, which entered into a Deferred Prosecution Agreement and paid a $200 million fine to the Federal government for its involvement in a decade long scheme to reward Madigan’s political allies with no-show jobs and lobbying contracts in exchange for the former Speaker’s assistance in moving legislation favorable to the company.
“Speaker Madigan will now be a federal prison inmate, and for his crimes against the people of Illinois, that is where he belongs,” Windhorst said. “Speaker Madigan broke the trust of the people he was elected to represent by engaging in what prosecutors described as the ‘Make Mike Madigan Money Plan’. Mike Madigan ruled Illinois with an iron fist, amassed a historically unmatched kingdom of political power, and sadly, used his power and influence to put his personal financial interests ahead of those of the citizens of Illinois.”
Windhorst, who serves as the House Republican Floor Leader and as the House Republican Ranking Member on the House Ethics & Elections Committee, says Democrats must wake up and take action to curb further instances of public corruption by enacting meaningful and lasting ethics reforms.
“I’m a co-sponsor of several bills that would target public corruption and provide real disincentives to those politicians who would breach the public trust for their own financial gain,” Windhorst said. “I support banning legislators from serving as lobbyists, a ban on the use of campaign funds to pay for legal defense, and empowering the Legislative Inspector General to have subpoena power so that office has the power it needs to conduct thorough investigations. My message to my Democratic colleagues is this: Wake up and take action to stop public corruption. Let’s ensure that the citizens of Illinois are never again wronged by another Mike Madigan.”
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