A man who, as a teenager, took on one of former Speaker Michael Madigan’s closest political allies at the ballot box, has also failed, for now, in his bid to persuade a judge that Chicago Ald. Marty Quinn owes him money for “dirty tricks” Quinn and the Madigan political machine pulled in attempting to get the young man knocked off the ballot.
In the ruling, Judge Seeger shot down Krupa’s claims that the actions taken against him by Madigan and Quinn – two of the most powerful political figures in Chicago, if not in all of Illinois – amounted to illegal state action against his attempt to exercise his constitutional rights and run for office.
Chicago 13th Ward Ald. Marty Quinn
| www.chicityclerk.com/
Seeger said, ultimately, it isn’t even enough that operatives identifying themselves as employees of Ald. Quinn, and “flashing government IDs” threatened to “withhold” city services from people who may have signed Krupa’s candidate nomination petitions.
While that threat and others of the actions taken by operatives of the Quinn and Madigan organizations against Krupa could be seen as illegal political thuggery, Seeger said Krupa’s candidacy ultimately survived the attempts by Madigan and Quinn to crash his bid, and no government official ultimately deprived him of his rights.
“He still got on the ballot, and it didn’t cost him any extra time or money,” said Seeger.
Krupa has been represented in the case by attorney Anthony Peraica, and others with the firm of Anthony J. Peraica & Associates Ltd., of Chicago.
In 2018, Krupa began going door to door in Chicago’s 13th Ward, seeking signatures from voters on his petitions to place his name on the ballot to challenge Quinn, who has represented the ward since he was first elected in 2011.
Quinn is publicly known as one of the most staunch political allies of Madigan.
After almost four decades as Speaker of the Illinois House of Representative, Madigan was removed from that post in 2021, amid federal investigation of his political organizations for allegedly soliciting bribes from ComEd in exchange for supporting legislation beneficial to the electrical utility. The alleged bribes came in the form of jobs and contracts for Madigan’s network of friends, allies and supporters.
Madigan then resigned his seat shortly after he was replaced as Speaker by his political ally, Emanuel “Chris” Welch, D-Hillside.
However, before federal prosecutors pulled back the curtain on the ComEd scandal, Madigan had cemented himself as the most powerful political figure in the state, in his dual roles as Speaker of the House and Chairman of the Illinois Democratic Party.
In that role, Madigan freely rewarded his political supporters, thanks to a massive political war chest, fueled by many millions of dollars in donations from labor unions, trial lawyers and others seeking to curry his favor, including Gov. JB Pritzker.
Pritzker, who is a billionaire, donated millions to Madigan’s political committees in 2018. Madigan is now using the money socked away in his political organization to pay his lawyers to defend him against the criminal charges.
In his positions, Madigan also exercised large amounts of control over who Democrats selected to run for office and secure political appointments in Chicago and elsewhere in Illinois.
In his lawsuit, Krupa notes Quinn particularly enjoyed such favor, essentially serving at Madigan’s pleasure, and functioning as a political operative of the former Speaker.
Recognizing the alleged corruption, Krupa said he decided at the age of 18 to attempt to fight it.
He launched his electoral challenge to Quinn at the age of 19.
However, once he began canvassing the ward, Krupa alleged the “dirty tricks” began. He asserted physically large and muscular men sent from Quinn’s and Madigan’s organizations would follow him from house to house, at times harassing him, at other times seeking to intimidate the people Krupa was attempting to speak with.
At one point, Krupa said he was threatened by one of the men, who told him he was “a nice kid” but “didn’t want to see him get hurt.”
Krupa would eventually file nominating petitions with more than 1,700 signatures. Under state law, he was required to get only 473.
After Krupa filed his petitions, agents of Quinn and Madigan then went through the ward’s neighborhoods, allegedly tricking and bullying residents of the ward to sign documents saying they wished to revoke their signature on Krupa’s petitions.
According to court documents, Quinn’s and Madigan’s agents allegedly made threats and told outright lies to people who did not immediately sign the revocation certification. The agents allegedly told voters they would lose city services if they didn’t sign. And also told them they were required by law to sign the papers, or that they were simply signing a form that would allow election officials to confirm their signature was valid.
Quinn and Madigan’s people then presented nearly 2,800 forms from people allegedly asking to revoke their signatures from Krupa’s petitions.
However, ultimately, those revocation challenges were withdrawn, when it became clear only 187 of those revocation certificates had been signed by people who also had signed one of Krupa’s petitions.
“On a human level, one can imagine that the political lackeys felt pretty pleased with themselves when they turned in 2,796 signatures from voters that purported to revoke support for Krupa,” Seeger wrote. “It’s a lot of work to go door to door to get signatures, and collecting so many signatures undoubtedly took lots of time and effort. One can only imagine how they felt when they realized that their attempt to railroad Krupa had gotten them nowhere.
“It must have been deflating to see 2,609 phony revocations go down the drain,” the judge said.
With 1,516 valid signatures, Krupa’s name was placed on the ballot, and he advanced to the election against Quinn.
Ultimately, Quinn won, with 85% of the vote.
But before the election, Krupa filed his lawsuit, asking the court to make Quinn’s and Madigan’s political organizations pay for their attempt to stifle his constitutional right to petition and run for office.
After two years of litigation, Quinn, Madigan and their political organizations asked the judge to grant them summary judgment, and end Krupa’s lawsuit.
They argued Krupa never demonstrated his rights were ever really violated, despite their alleged actions.
Political operatives are not the same as “state actors,” which they must be to be held liable for violating constitutional rights, they argued.
Judge Seeger agreed with Krupa that the threats from agents of Ald. Quinn to shut off city services to Krupa supporters could amount to illegal state action.
But the judge said Krupa’s claims fall short, precisely because he secured and defended enough signatures to make it to Election Day, even if he was roundly trounced in balloting.
“… Math is not the only reason why the complaint doesn’t allege an injury. The complaint is at a high level of generality,” Seeger wrote. “That is, Krupa alleges that Defendants had a big bag of dirty tricks, and used those tricks on the voters.
“One of those tricks was the threat to withhold municipal services. Maybe that threat affected the 187 voters who revoked their signatures. Or maybe not. But again, even if the threat affected those 187 voters, it wouldn’t matter, because Krupa remained on the ballot without them.
“… At most, the complaint alleges an attempted (or maybe botched) deprivation of a right. But an attempt to deprive a right is not enough,” Seeger wrote.
The judge dismissed Krupa’s federal law claims, and chose to release jurisdiction over Krupa’s claims under Illinois state law. Krupa would be free to refile those allegations in Cook County court, should he so choose, the judge said.
Quinn, Madigan and their political organizations were represented by attorneys Vincent Michael Rizzo, of the firm of Hinshaw and Culbertson, of Chicago; Adam Robert Vaught, of Kilbride & Vaught, of La Grange; and Lari Ann Dierks, of Katten Muchin Rosenman, of Chicago.