North Cook News

Jim Geldermann, a former Illinois House candidate, said he believes the conviction of former House Speaker Michael Madigan does little to change the state’s corruption problems. 

Madigan, who served for 36 years as Illinois’ House speaker, wielded immense political power, shaping both legislation and elections. He was convicted on Feb. 12 of 10 counts of conspiracy, bribery, and wire fraud related to corrupt dealings involving ComEd.

"My first thought is, why did it take so long?" Geldermann told North Cook News. "Or it could be that I'm surprised his daughter didn’t see it when she was attorney general." 

Madigan’s daughter, Lisa Madigan, served as Illinois attorney general for 16 years of Madigan’s reign, from 2003 to 2019.

He also pointed out that his opponent in the 2024 election, state Rep. Jennifer Gong-Gershowitz (D-Glenview), received $700,000 in campaign funds from Madigan. Geldermann lost to incumbent Gong-Gershowitz in the Illinois House District 17 general election on Nov. 5, 2024, receiving 31.3% of the vote compared to Gong-Gershowitz's 68.7%.

Geldermann expressed frustration that the political landscape remains riddled with corruption.

"Nothing’s really changed in state government," he said. "There’s still a supermajority in the state that has made people afraid of the government. Our system was designed for the government to be afraid of us, and until we can break the supermajority, we’ll still be living under tyrannical government."

Madigan’s trial, which included extensive wiretap evidence and recordings, revealed his use of political power for personal gain, ultimately leading to his downfall after decades in office.

As a result of the earlier stages of the investigation, Exelon and ComEd settled in July 2020 by admitting to a criminal scheme and agreeing to pay a $200 million penalty under a Deferred Prosecution Agreement with the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Northern District of Illinois.

Geldermann pointed out the cost of ComEd’s fines being passed on to ratepayers.

"There’s a complete misunderstanding of where money comes from,” he said. “As a ratepayer, client, and customer of ComEd, I paid this fine. Why am I paying a fine? Because Madigan extorted money from ComEd. This goes on and is just another money grab. What we’re seeing at the national, state and local levels are huge money laundering schemes where people are allegedly legally extracting money from the citizens of the state."

From 1983 to 2023, Illinois averaged more than one corruption conviction per week, with 2,168 convictions over the 40-year period, coinciding with Madigan’s term as House speaker.

Despite his departure, Illinois saw a record 59 corruption convictions in 2023, the majority of which were tied to the Northern District, including Chicago.

In Geldermann’s view, the corruption in Illinois under Madigan’s rule was not merely an individual issue but a broader systemic problem.

“The base truly believes in the preamble of the Declaration, where at times the government has to be changed," he said. "This is a great example of the government not changing because the citizens haven’t changed it. They’ve just moved pieces around the chessboard, but the corruption is worse now than it was when Madigan was running it."

According to Illinois Policy, Madigan's long tenure in power left Illinois with a legacy of corruption, fiscal mismanagement, and a severe pension crisis, resulting in a near-junk credit rating. His control over the budget and pension system, along with reliance on borrowing and budget gimmicks, worsened the state's financial situation, driving residents away.

Geldermann critiqued the legislative priorities and the influence of various interest groups on the Illinois political process.

“My opponent was in the pocket of five major lobbies,” he said. “The big crime lobby: Their job was to make the streets safe for criminals, which the Safe-T Act basically did. There’s the DEI lobby, which is racist, anti-Semitic, and misogynistic. There’s the ‘let’s keep our kids stupid’ lobby. The idea that 10,000 kids on the Invest in Kids scholarships, their programs are worthless, and their parents don’t count. We keep going on about these things, about their whole attitude toward life—whether you’re prenatal or alive—and especially toward people suffering from drug and alcohol abuse. All they do is enable special interest groups to prey on the most vulnerable in our society.” 

Despite the conviction, Geldermann believes the trial itself is a distraction from more pervasive corruption.

"I think Madigan had outlived his usefulness and was standing in the way of what the really radical Democrats were trying to accomplish,” he said. “There’s a big theft going on that I think DOGE is going to uncover. We went from the Democrats saying they balanced the budget and had a surplus to stealing money from FEMA. It was all done under COVID, and it was money stolen from taxpayers."

He argued that the focus on Madigan’s corruption trial detracts from larger systemic problems.

"They’re destroying economic growth in this state, and they’re chasing out the taxpayers," Geldermann said. "So, the Madigan corruption trial is a distraction from the real corruption going on in the state."

Geldermann’s message remains clear. Until the structural problems are addressed, the state's future will remain under the cloud of corruption.

“Our system was designed for the government to be afraid of us, and until we can break the supermajority, we’ll still be living under tyrannical government,” he said.