Illinois Republican Party

Madigan's son's employer rakes in suburbs' insurance business
8/23/2012

From the Chicago Tribune

The son of Illinois House Speaker Michael Madigan is forging a successful insurance career in the Chicago suburbs with the help of mayors who look to his powerful father to advance their political and legislative agendas.

Andrew Madigan, 26, joined the powerhouse Chicago firm Mesirow Financial in 2008 after interning with the company during college. Since 2010, he has worked in business development for the company's insurance division, where he is now a vice president.

His job: connecting with decision-makers, laying the groundwork for new business and then handing over the details to teams of Mesirow insurance brokers who seal the deals.

His emergence into a political world long dominated by his father raises new questions about the intersection of the speaker's public and private interests.

In the last two years, Mesirow has won new government business tied to Andrew Madigan in more than a half-dozen suburbs, according to public records and Tribune interviews. In at least three towns where Mesirow won business — Chicago Heights, McCook and Bridgeview — the speaker did favors for the mayors around the same time the suburbs hired the firm.

Chicago Heights Mayor David Gonzalez benefited from Madigan's political machine in the closing days of his election. McCook Mayor Jeffrey Tobolski, also a Cook County commissioner, got Madigan's assurance that a legislative effort targeting dual officeholders was going nowhere. And Bridgeview Mayor Steven Landek was appointed to an open seat in the state Senate with Madigan's help.

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