The disgraced former House Speaker was indicted in 2022 for political corruption and remains one of Raoul’s top campaign contributors
CHICAGO – Republican nominee for Attorney General Tom DeVore is calling on Kwame Raoul to return the $1 million campaign donation he received in 2018 from Friends of Michael J Madigan. On March 2, 2022, the former House Speaker was indicted on federal racketeering and bribery charges for allegedly using his powerful position as speaker to enrich himself and his allies financially.
Last Friday morning, it was reported that a federal grand jury announced additional charges against Madigan and AT&T Illinois has agreed to pay a $23 million fine for trying to influence the then-House Speaker.
“Former House Speaker Mike Madigan is the poster child for political corruption in Illinois,” said Republican Attorney General nominee Tom DeVore. “And while Madigan and his friends got rich by abusing their political positions in Springfield and Chicago, the people of Illinois continued to suffer from their greed with higher taxes and utility rates.”
DeVore also called on Attorney General Kwame Raoul to return the $1 million campaign contribution he received in 2018 from Friends of Michael J Madigan. The disgraced former speaker remains one of Raoul’s top campaign contributors. “I am calling on Kwame Rauol to return the campaign donation immediately,” said DeVore. “Given what we now know, it is completely unacceptable and a slap in the face to the people of Illinois to keep that money.”
But that’s not going to happen, Attorney General Raoul told Politico last week.
“That money was donated by the former head of the Democratic Party of Illinois four years ago, and it was spent four years ago. Since then, I’ve accepted donations from the new chairwoman of the party and other supporters, and I’m certainly not going to hand over those donations to someone who is under federal indictment,” Raoul said in a statement.
Raoul goes on to point out that the US Attorney is “appropriately conducting their prosecution,” but does not explain why the Illinois attorney general (Raoul) did not pursue an investigation of a person that donated $1 million to help Raoul get elected.
DeVore is also pushing the fact that Raoul supports the dramatic change to the criminal justice system that will take place in Illinois on January 1, 2023.
He continues to call out the Attorney General for his support of the controversial and unpopular SAFE-T ACT, and links that support to the campaign donations that he received from both Gov. JB Pritzker and Friends of Michael J Madigan.
“You don’t just arbitrarily sit back and say, ‘Well the legislature passed it, the governor signed it and I have a duty to defend it’ – that’s what Attorney Generals do whose top two contributors to their campaigns are in fact the executive and the legislature. If you’re representing everybody equally, you have a duty to the people to raise these issues.”
