Springfield, Ill. (AP) — Illinois state Rep. Michael Madigan has announced that he has resigned his seat in the Legislature. The Chicago Democrat for decades had set much of Illinois’ political agenda as House speaker before he was ousted from that job last month. Madigan was elected speaker in 1983 and served 36 of the next 38 years at the helm. The 78-year-old was tarnished by a federal investigation of Statehouse bribery announced last summer that implicated him. He hasn’t been charged and maintains his innocence. But he lost his bid for a 19th term as speaker.
