CHICAGO — A little over a year ago, Michael Madigan was still clinging to his spot at the apex of the Illinois political power structure, the longest-serving House leader in the nation’s history, head of the Illinois Democratic Party, and controller of all the spoils that went with it.
On Wednesday, Madigan will be in a decidedly different position: Criminal defendant.
A week after he was charged in a bombshell racketeering indictment, Madigan, 79, of Chicago’s Southwest Side, is scheduled to be arraigned in a telephone hearing in U.S. District Court on allegations he ran his elected office and political operation as a criminal enterprise that provided personal financial rewards for him and his associates.
