Gov. J.B. Pritzker appoints former state senator and longtime Mike Madigan ally to state board
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Shortly after saying Illinois Democrats have “learned lessons” from recent corruption convictions of close associates of Michael Madigan, Gov. J.B. Pritzker appointed an ally of the indicted former longtime Democratic House Speaker to a state board that oversees billions of dollars in lending.
Former Democratic state Sen. Steven Landek, who retired from the Senate in January after more than a decade in Springfield but still serves as mayor of southwest suburban Bridgeview, was one of three people Pritzker appointed to the Illinois Finance Authority on Monday.
The Landek announcement came just days after a federal jury convicted one of Madigan’s top aides, Tim Mapes, on perjury and attempted obstruction of justice charges alleging he lied to a grand jury to try to protect Madigan from a widening corruption probe.
Landek’s name and the political organization he leads have been referenced in federal search warrants in the ongoing investigation, and the village of Bridgeview was subpoenaed for documents related to Madigan associates. Landek has not been accused of any wrongdoing.
On Monday, Pritzker said that although there wasn’t “anything indicated in the Mapes trial in particular that leads to (legislative) action,” when it comes to the broader investigation targeting Madigan and others, “I think we’ve learned lessons and are acting upon that. … We have passed ethics legislation, several times in fact. We ought to be continuing the improvement process.”
A day later, Pritzker defended his decision to appoint Landek to the finance authority board, which oversees a state agency that provides access to low-cost capital to public and private institutions to spur economic development.
“Just because someone’s name is brought up does not mean that they’re guilty of something,” Pritzker said Tuesday in Decatur, describing Landek as “someone who’s spent many years in public life and I think has been examined up and down, certainly by his constituents over many years.”
“But if there’s evidence of somebody doing something wrong and therefore they shouldn’t be serving in any kind of publicly appointed position, I will want to know that, and I will of course take action,” Pritzker added.
During his 12 years in the Senate, Landek was never the lead sponsor on any bill signed into law .
Appointed to a vacant Senate seat with Madigan’s help in 2011, Landek did not respond to requests for comment on the appointment, which requires confirmation by the chamber where he once served. The role on the 15-member board, which does not pay aside from reimbursement for expenses, will not affect his legislative pension of $28,584.48 per year, officials said.
In a news release announcing Landek’s appointment, the Pritzker administration touted his “demonstrated expertise in bond issuances, employee pension management, public budgeting, and rating agency presentations.”
Under Landek’s leadership, the village of Bridgeview financed a stadium for the Chicago Fire soccer team. The stadium opened in 2006 and saddled the village with huge debts. Planned developments around the stadium never materialized and the Fire moved to Soldier Field at the start of the 2020 season. The team is making payments to buy out its lease that amount to 13% of the village’s general revenue, which has eased some financial strain but will end in 2036, according to Fitch Ratings.
After leaving the legislature earlier this year, Landek in April was elected to a seventh four-year term as mayor of Bridgeview. He also leads the Democratic Organization of Lyons Township.
His unopposed bid for mayor this spring was the first time he faced voters since his name surfaced in the sweeping federal corruption probe that led to the indictment of Madigan and a guilty plea from Landek’s former neighboring state senator, Martin Sandoval. A Chicago Democrat, Sandoval died in December 2020 of COVID-19 after pleading guilty to bribery and tax charges and agreeing to cooperate with federal prosecutors.
Federal agents who raided Sandoval’s Springfield office in September 2019 seized a number of items, including a flash drive with “Landek written on it,” according to search warrant documents.
Landek, who shared an office suite and a legislative assistant with Sandoval, later told the Tribune the flash drive likely contained information about office bills, rents and phones, and possibly legislation he sponsored for the Illinois Municipal League. He said at the time he hadn’t been interviewed by federal authorities.
When federal agents descended on village hall in southwest suburban Lyons two days after raiding Sandoval’s state Capitol office, “items related to the Democratic Organization of Lyons Township” were among the records they sought, according to a search warrant.
In February 2020, Bridgeview received a federal grand jury subpoena for a range of documents, including communications with Madigan and his longtime confidant Michael McClain, a former state lawmaker and lobbyist who was convicted this spring with three others in the “ComEd Four” bribery trial. McClain also was indicted along with Madigan in a separate but related federal racketeering case that is set to go to trial in April.
As the Tribune has previously reported, Bridgeview was among more than a half-dozen suburbs that awarded insurance business to Mesirow Financial, the firm that employed Madigan’s son, Andrew.
Bridgeview selected Mesirow as its broker for risk management insurance in December 2010, about a month before Michael Madigan presided over a meeting of local Democratic Party leaders who unanimously chose Landek to replace retiring Sen. Lou Viverito of Burbank. In 2012, Landek declined to say whether Andrew Madigan was involved in securing the three-year contract, but said all insurance brokerage deals in the village went through a competitive bidding process.
The federal indictment of Michael Madigan alleges that during a 2018 meeting about a potential appointment to a state board, he asked then-Ald. Danny Solis, who was wearing a wire, to steer insurance business to his son.
Gorner reported from Decatur.
