Prairie State Wire

An advocacy group is pointing to recently indicted former Illinois House Speaker Michael Madigan’s lengthy tenure as an argument to impose term limits. 

"The longest serving state house speaker in U.S. history, Illinois' Michael Madigan, becomes the prime example of why we need TERM LIMITS imposed on ALL members of Congress, not just the President!" U.S. Term Limits posted on Facebook. 

U.S. Term Limits members discussed Madigan’s indictment on a recent podcast. 

"The longest-serving State House speaker in U.S. history supplies additional evidence of the power, hubris and corruption that so often come with long tenure. What lessons can we glean from the fall of Illinois’s most powerful politician?" Philip Blumel asked in the podcast. 

U.S. Term Limits is a non-profit organization seeking term limits across the country. The group is targeting "career politicians." 

Madigan is facing a 22-count federal indictment on charges of bribery, racketeering and extortion.

WBEZ reported that Gov. J.B. Pritzker hired 35 politically-connected people through his relationship with Madigan. Those jobs cost the state about $2.5 million per year. 

"The indictment alleges a long-term, multifaceted scheme to use public positions for unlawful gain, including no-show or low-show jobs for Madigan's political workers and private gain for Madigan himself," U.S. Attorney John Lausch said at a news conference in the wake of the indictment. "The schemes describe involvement of a leader of state government, one of his close confidantes, top management of a large public utility, consultants and others." 

Madigan has denied the charges. Through a statement, he stressed that he "was never involved in any criminal activity. The government is attempting to criminalize a routine constituent service: job recommendations. That is not illegal."