Update of the Michael Madigan trial: the former speaker of the house of Illinois joins the culture of corruption that date back to the 1980s in Chicago, state

Chicago (WLS) – Michael Madigan is the last politician of Illinois convicted of abusing the power of his position, and is now part of the culture of corruption that has been turning since the 1980s.

Once called the “velvet hammer” for its tranquility but vice president of power in the legislature, Madigan has been nailed in 10 of 27 positions of corruption by federal prosecutors.

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It joins a long line of former Illinois politicians, including former Illinois governors. Rod Blagojevich, George Ryan, Dan Walker, Otto Kerner, former councilor Ed Burke and many more facing prison for his actions betraying public trust as head of the office.

“It could be said that he was the most powerful man in Illinois politics. It could be said that he was the most careful politic Federal Ron Safer, who also believes that one of the greatest victories for prosecutors is the guilt verdict on a Madigan scheme to approve a beneficial legislation for Comes in exchange for jobs without work for their cronies. “I totally believe that emails, conversations about the Board positions, about the lobbyists, the lobbyists are paid for positions that did not meet, that is incontrovertible evidence.”

Historically, Illinois has been classified as one of the most politically corrupt states in the nation.

According to the data obtained by the ABC7 Chicago I-Team, since the first corruption trial of Chicago in 1869, thousands of government and commercial officials have been convicted of public gains.

The governor of Illinois, Blagojevich, who was declared guilty of trying to sell the open seat of the United States of former President Barack Obama, was forgiven this week by President Donald Trump.

Ryan was condemned for illegally selling government licenses to non -qualified truck drivers for bribes.

A little over a year ago, the powerful Chicago Burke councilor was convicted of federal extortion and bribery charges for his efforts to request and extort private legal work.

But even with Wednesday’s verdict, Juliet Sorensen, a law clinical professor and the director of the Loyola Law Institute, said the import cannot be emphasized.

“This is a very significant case in the anti -corruption efforts of Illinois and, in fact, in the history of our state. It is difficult to exaggerate how powerful the former speaker was during his many years of service in the Illinois legislature,” Sorensen said.

But, the jury is not yet about whether this verdict is significant enough to put a true fractor of public corruption in Illinois.

“If the people of Illinois are looking for a path to follow in terms of anti -corruption reform and good governance, I would say that they should talk to their legislators about a significant ethical reform bill that will be a preventive and proactive approach to reduce corruption in Illinois , unlike a criminal process, which is, as I said, inevitably, very slow and inefficient, “Sorensen said.

Safer said it was absurd that Madigan’s law firm could practice before the State and, he added, “criminal prosecutions are the worst way to enforce an ethics law, what we have to do is change the law.”

Madigan can present a motion to appeal, but only after being sentenced.

Prosecutors who talk to I-Team said this shows that prosecutors in the Northern District are very motivated to process public corruption cases.