Illinois Anons should understand the significance of "King" Madigan being caught on a wiretap, as he does his "business" by word of mouth only and doesn't even own a cell phone. He has near absolute power over the Illinois General Assembly.

Report: Powerful Illinois speaker Madigan recorded in FBI probe

CHICAGO — A Chicago newspaper reported Tuesday that a lengthy federal court affidavit says the FBI secretly recorded Illinois' powerful House speaker in 2014 discussing a hotel development project and the possibility of its Chinese developer becoming a client of the speaker's private law firm.

Tuesday's Chicago Sun-Times' report on Michael Madigan, a formidable powerbroker in Illinois for decades, suggests a federal investigation may cast a much wider net than first thought after it apparently led to an attempted extortion charge earlier this month against an influential Chicago alderman, Ed Burke.

Madigan, a 76-year-old Chicago Democrat, is the longest-serving current speaker of a Statehouse in the U.S. He has held the post almost continuously since 1983. The recent swearing in of Democratic Gov. J.B. Pritzker only boosted Madigan's influence by ending four years of divided government with Republican Bruce Rauner at the helm of state.

In a statement to the Sun-Times, a Madigan attorney, Heather Wier Vaught, denied any wrongdoing by the speaker, adding that neither he nor his law firm is under investigation to their knowledge.

The 120-page court affidavit obtained by the Sun-Times says an associate of the developer recorded Madigan during an Aug. 18, 2014, meeting at Madigan's downtown Chicago law office about the proposed hotel in the city's Chinatown neighborhood. It was never built, though developers did secure requisite zoning approval from the City Council.

https://thesouthern.com/news/local/govt-and-politics/report-powerful-illinois-speaker-madigan-recorded-in-fbi-probe/article_4399cdd8-b718-53e3-ba24-5425df3a4aca.html