Editor's note: This article was originally published by the Illinois Policy Institute on its website.
Former Illinois House Speaker Mike Madigan was convicted of misusing his public office for his own power and profit. Not only should his public pension be halted, he should repay the nearly $600,000 taxpayers already paid the felon.
The following is a letter from the Illinois Policy Institute sent Feb. 12, 2025, to the General Assembly Retirement System Board of Trustees following the conviction of former Illinois House Speaker Michael J. Madigan.
Under state law, the board should permanently suspend Madigan’s pension benefits. They already acted to stop the payments, sending Madigan a letter Feb. 13, but he will still receive the February payment of $13,170 because it had already been processed.
Since retiring in 2021, he’s received nearly $600,000. The law calls for him to return that money to taxpayers.
Madigan built a system that rewarded his public union cronies with unaffordable benefits, including pension systems so overly generous that taxpayers will eventually need to infuse another $143.7 billion to keep them from failing. The system that paid him nearly $600,000 in a little less than four years is in the worst shape of the five statewide pension systems, with only 24.6% of the money it will eventually need and well beyond what experts see as the point of no return.
Here’s the letter:
Subject: Illinois law makes former Speaker Madigan ineligible for pension benefits
Dear Executive Secretary Blair, Chairperson Martwick and members of the General Assembly Retirement System Board of Trustees:
Former state Rep. Michael J. Madigan was convicted of multiple felonies on Feb. 12, 2025, in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois. Those felonies included, but were not limited to, conspiracy to commit an offense against the United States, bribery and wire fraud.
These convictions make him ineligible under state law to receive any pension benefits from the General Assembly Retirement System, including any funds he has already received.
Illinois’ pension code provides the following in 40 ILCS 5/2-156:
“None of the benefits herein provided for shall be paid to any person who is convicted of any felony relating to or arising out of or in connection with his or her service as a member…”
Madigan’s felony convictions clearly fall within the purview of this prohibition.
As noted in Ryan v. Board of Trustees of the General Assembly Retirement System, 236 Ill. 2d 315, 319 (Ill. 2010), the determination of whether Madigan, a convicted felon, is eligible for pension benefits under GARS “relates solely to the proper interpretation of the pension forfeiture provision that disqualifies a member of the System from receiving pension benefits if convicted of a felony ‘relating to or arising out of or in connection with his or her service as a member.’”
There is no question Madigan has been convicted of a felony relating to, arising out of or in connection with his service as a member. His misdeeds as a lawmaker were at the very heart of his criminal case. He exchanged influence on key state legislation for job opportunities and perks. The jury instructions included elements related to “bribery and legislative misconduct” or “scheme to defraud the people of Illinois” on multiple counts of which he was convicted.
If this Board does not permanently suspend Madigan’s pension benefits, Illinois taxpayers would be wrongfully required to pay Madigan an estimated $1.65 million during his lifetime. This is unfair to Illinoisans. And these unfair payments would come at the expense of an already overburdened system. GARS has less than 25% of the funds needed to meet future obligations, the lowest of all Illinois state-run systems, with $276 million in unfunded liabilities.
What’s more, Madigan must pay back the nearly $600,000 in pension benefits he already received since his retirement in 2021 through 2024 from the taxpayers of Illinois.
As the Illinois Supreme Court pointed out in Ryan, “Here, the statutory language is clear and unambiguous. Section 2-156 of the Code provides that ‘[n]one of the benefits herein provided for shall be paid to any person who is convicted of any felony relating to or arising out of or in connection with his or her service as a member.’” Ryan, 236 Ill. 2d at 320 (emphasis in original).
The court went on to stress the totality of the statute’s intent. “Accordingly, section 2-156 plainly mandates that none of the benefits provided for under the System shall be paid to Ryan. The forfeiture, in other words, is total. Ryan gets nothing.” Id. (emphasis in original). While the court was determining whether former Gov. George Ryan should receive benefits arising out of other government positions he had held, the emphasis it placed on the totality of the pension suspension applies here.
As in Ryan, “there is no dispute” Madigan “was convicted of multiple federal felonies relating to his service” as a lawmaker in Illinois. Id. His name is easily substituted in the court’s language:
Section 2-156 plainly mandates that none of the benefits provided for under the System shall be paid to [Madigan]. The forfeiture, in other words, is total. [Madigan] gets nothing.
As Madigan is entitled to none of the benefits but has already received some of the benefits, he must repay what the people of Illinois have, in retrospect, wrongfully provided in pension benefits to date.
At the very least, this board should require Madigan to pay back the nearly $230,000 that is above the $352,345 he paid into the system while he was a lawmaker.
As a nonpartisan voice for the taxpayers of Illinois, the Illinois Policy Institute urges Executive Secretary Blair to recommend, and the Board to approve, the permanent suspension of Madigan’s pension benefit payments and the initiation of proceedings to collect repayment of the benefits he has already received but is ineligible to keep under state law.
Sincerely,
Amy Korte, Executive Vice President
Mailee Smith, Staff Attorney
Illinois Policy Institute