They are - they added additional charges to the former lawmaker (Madigan) who took the bribes[0]. He was already criminally charged for similar bribery by the local power company (ComEd). Makes me wonder if Comcast or Nicor will be next.
I almost feel sorry for AT&T here. It's hard to overstate just how powerful Mike Madigan was in Illinois politics (and he's still very influential). He was undoubtedly more powerful than the governor. His corruption was legendary and well known by everyone, yet hardly anyone seemed to care and people voted for him anyway. He acted like a mob boss in the legislature, ensuring that all his colleagues would continue to vote him into the Speaker position year after year. Any Democrats who voted against him as speaker were very publicly punished, since he controlled most of the Democratic party money in the state. In a state that almost always has a Democratic supermajority, there were basically zero checks to his power. Companies like AT&T may have been in a bad situation of having no choice but to play ball with him just to be able to function in the state. Everyone in Illinois knew that you didn't say no to Mike Madigan.
