SPRINGFIELD — Former Illinois House Speaker Michael Madigan, the longest-serving state House speaker in American history and the state’s most powerful politician during his nearly four-decade reign, was found guilty on federal corruption charges in a partial verdict on Wednesday.

The jury returned guilty verdicts on 10 of 23 counts against Madigan, including for bribery, bribery conspiracy, using interstate facilities in aid of bribery and wire fraud. The jury deadlocked on six counts, including the overarching racketeering charge against Madigan and co-defendant Mike McClain, and acquitted the former House speaker on seven counts. 

Madigan, 82, had been accused by federal prosecutors of running his political and governmental operations like a criminal enterprise meant to enrich himself and his allies. 

Specifically, Madigan was found guilty of using his influence to pass legislation favorable to Commonwealth Edison in exchange for the utility giant doling out jobs and contracts to his allies despite them doing little to no work. The utility paid $1.3 million out to Madigan allies over eight years.

Last year, McClain — a former state legislator and lobbyist who was Madigan's right-hand man — and three others with ties to ComEd were found guilty of conspiring to bribe the longtime Illinois House speaker.

In this trial, however, the jury deadlocked on six charges against McClain.

Madigan was also found guilty of charges related to his efforts to secure a state board seat for then-Chicago Ald. Danny Solis. 

The former House speaker was acquitted of charges that he sought to get the developers of an apartment project in Chicago's West Loop neighborhood to hire his law firm in exchange for Solis' help with zoning changes. 

The jury deadlocked on charges relating to bribery schemes involving AT&T as well as the transfer of state-owned land in Chicago's Chinatown neighborhood. Legislation enabling the latter would have been predicated on the developer of a proposed hotel project hiring Madigan's law firm. The bill did not pass.

Jurors deliberated for more than 65 hours, capping off a four-month trial that ended nearly three years after Madigan and McClain were first indicted. 

Some of the charges carry a sentence of up to 20 years in prison. 

Madigan declined to comment when leaving the Chicago courthouse.

The verdict completes a stunning fall from grace for Madigan, a Democrat from Chicago's Southwest Side who climbed the political ladder to become Illinois' most powerful politician. He served in the House from 1971 to 2021 and was speaker for all but two years from 1983 on.

For nearly four decades, as various Illinois governors, Senate presidents and Chicago mayors came and went, Madigan was a constant in state politics.

At the center of Madigan’s electoral success was a multi-layered political operation that at its most basic level emulated the ward-based politics of Chicago’s Democratic political machine, which was led for more than two decades by his mentor, former Mayor Richard J. Daley.

Madigan’s political organization — based out of Chicago’s 13th Ward but encompassing the entire Democratic Party of Illinois — included a roster of professional precinct captains and political operatives who over the years have helped run Democratic campaigns across the state.

He also controlled separate but intertwined campaign committees that allowed him to collect high-dollar donations from key Democratic constituencies like labor unions and trial lawyers and move the money seamlessly to races where it was needed — something state Republicans were quick to point out in their reactions to the verdict on Wednesday.

In his role as speaker, Madigan controlled nearly every aspect of operations in the Illinois House. He dictated which bills were considered through the gatekeeping Rules Committee, whose members he handpicked.

Decisions about staffing, resources and Democratic committee and leadership assignments were also centralized in the speaker's office. 

He lost the speaker's gavel when Republicans took control of the House in 1995, but he quickly regained it two years later. He would lose it again in 2021 when, under the cloud of investigation, he failed to attain the requisite votes to be reelected speaker during an internal House Democratic caucus vote.

Madigan had been weakened in his final years leading the House by sexual harassment allegations leveled against trusted operatives and aides within his organization, including his longtime Chief of Staff Tim Mapes. 

His grip was further loosened as the feds closed in on him and his allies.

This included ComEd in 2020 agreeing to pay a $200 million fine as part of a deferred prosecution agreement in which the utility giant admitted to awarding jobs and contracts to associates of a top state official, later identified as Madigan.

Charges against McClain and three others with ties to ComEd soon followed.

The verdict was a reminder of Illinois' sordid record on political corruption. Four of the state's past 11 governors have served time in prison, not to mention a slew of state legislators and local elected officials.

Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker, in a statement said that the verdict is "a vital reminder that we must maintain our vigilance in cleaning up government and always put the people we serve first."

"The Madigan verdict by a jury of everyday Illinoisans is an important message to anyone in government — or those thinking about public service — that if you choose corruption you will be found out, and you will be punished," Pritzker said.

State Rep. Kelly Cassidy, D-Chicago, one of 19 House Democrats who voted against granting Madigan another term as House speaker in 2021, said Wednesday that "some measure of accountability" that comes with the verdict is "critically important and will have implications for our state government for generations."

"Particularly in a moment when our federal government has been subsumed by blatantly corrupt forces, we need our state government to be trustworthy to the public and focused on the will of the people, not self-interest," Cassidy said. "This verdict will help move us toward that goal.”

Senate President Don Harmon, D-Oak Park, said that the verdict "closes a long, disturbing chapter in Illinois’ history."

"It’s a stark reminder that corruption, abuse of power and manipulation of public policy for personal gain can never be tolerated," Harmon said. "We cannot be effective if people don’t trust us."

House Speaker Chris Welch, D-Hillside, who succeeded Madigan in 2021, said he "always believed that a court of law was the place for this to all be sorted out."

Prior to being elected House speaker, Welch chaired a special committee tasked with investigating potential unethical conduct by Madigan in relation to the ComEd scandal. The panel dissolved in December 2020 without taking any action against Madigan.

"Today’s outcome leaves me with great appreciation and respect for our legal system," Welch said. "Investigators, prosecutors, and a jury of Illinoisans did their job.”

Still, many of the state's Republicans said that Democrats are too quick to turn the page, renewing their call for more ethics reform to clean up a culture they say allowed for Madigan to operate in the way he did. 

"We say enough is enough, and you've heard us say that before: We cannot afford to have federal prosecutors continue to enforce our weak ethic laws regardless of what Speaker Welch feels," said Illinois House Republican Leader Tony McCombie, R-Savanna. 

McCombie said that her caucus is "looking at what we can do to improve current laws, expose bad actors and instill greater public trust in our government."

After Madigan's ouster in 2021, state lawmakers enacted a series of ethics reforms that, among other things, mandated a greater level of financial disclosure from lawmakers and placed more guardrails around lobbying, including preventing legislators who resign mid-term from turning around and immediately registering to lobby their former colleagues.

But Republicans and good government groups said the reform had glaring weaknesses that have not been addressed in the intervening years.

Among the ideas floated around on Wednesday: term limits for legislative leaders and granting the state's legislative inspector general more powers to investigate wrongdoing by lawmakers.

State Rep. Regan Deering, R-Decatur, said in a statement that "justice was served," but that the "only way to stop the ‘Madigan Way’ is through bold and immediate ethics reform."

"The Democrats may claim to have turned a page, but their refusal to take up ethics reform proves they’re still operating under the same broken system," Deering said. "Illinois needs real change, and the people deserve leaders willing to fight for it."

State Sen. Sally Turner, R-Beason said that Madigan "represented a broken political system that prioritized power over the public good."

"His conviction is a positive step toward restoring public trust, however, real and meaningful reform is still needed to ensure future accountability and to prevent this kind of corruption from happening again," Turner said. 

However, state Rep. Sharon Chung, D-Bloomington, said that the guilty verdicts show that "the system is working."

"They were able to investigate and charge him with these crimes and they presented the case in a trial — a lengthy trial with lots of witnesses," Chung said. "The jury did deliberate for quite some time, but they did come up with with these guilty verdicts."

So, I mean, it shows that the system is working that we do have people out there who are sort of looking for people who are doing corrupt things," she said, adding that lawmakers have enacted ethics reforms post-Madigan.

The Associated Press and Lee Enterprises' Michael Mollsen contributed to this report.