Pfingsten: Democrats looking over their shoulder after Madigan indictment

In his shocking indictment by federal prosecutors last week, Michael Madigan is alleged to have overseen a criminal enterprise using jobs, access and the promise of favorable legislation.

I sat in stunned silence Wednesday as the TV in my office showed U.S. Attorney John Lausch announcing the indictment many of us thought would never come.

We’ve watched for decades as Madigan gained control of the speaker’s office. Prosecutors are alleging he used coded languages and emissaries and avoided discussing “business” on phones that could be wiretapped.

Madigan, 79, never owned a cellphone. By all indications, conversations that took place with him never included any specifics about “this for that,” or legislative horse trading. Madigan’s “people” allegedly got jobs, often low- or no-show jobs, in return for Madigan’s cooperation on a legislative issue, prosecutors say.

We’ve known for a while that Mike McClain, a now retired lobbyist and former lawmaker who was Madigan’s confidant in Springfield, had been wiretapped. In the indictment last week, we learned former Chicago Alderman Danny Solis was also tapped.

A large part of the indictment involves alleged bribes, jobs and influence held over energy company Commonwealth Edison during the Future Energy Jobs Act negotiations in 2016. But Madigan appears to tell Solis in one of the wiretaps not to use the term “quid pro quo.”

I’m eager to hear the tapes. Did they catch Madigan in a weak moment? Or is McClain, who was reportedly dispatched as the conduit between the speaker, ComEd and other interested parties, who went rogue and tried to make himself look more influential than he really was? Throwing McClain under the bus is the easy defense for Madigan, but McClain hasn’t appeared willing to flip on his old friend and doesn’t seem like he’s ready to go down with the ship.

It seemed like everyone in Illinois politics has, for years, accepted the fact Madigan was likely at the center of something fishy. And if a Democrat lawmaker publicly says they had no idea or indication anything bad was happening, are they being truthful?

That could likely have Democratic elected officials shaking in their loafers now. Few Democrats of consequence in Illinois have, at least at some point, taken Madigan political donations, said nice things about him or owed him something at some point.

Republicans have tried to tie Madigan to every Democratic politician for years, but the message hasn’t worked, partly because the GOP has nominated bad candidates and partly because they didn’t have the money to make Madigan opponents stick with voters. With a potential GOP wave building in 2022, a governor with shaky poll numbers and a potential GOP sugar daddy in billionaire Ken Griffin, 2022 could be a terrible year for Democrats.

It’s hard to tell what sticks and how Madigan will impact the fall election, but you know Democrats are concerned about what happens next.

• Patrick Pfingsten is a former award-winning journalist and longtime Republican strategist who writes The Illinoize statewide political newsletter. You can read more at www.theillinoize.com or contact him at patrick@theillinoize.com.