Lots has gone down lately. But one of the first signs of real trouble came almost two years ago, when Madigan abruptly fired Kevin Quinn, the brother of Ald. Marty Quinn, of Madigan's home 13th Ward. Numerous emails from Quinn to a female co-worker who refused to date him were enough to prompt action—at least before the woman could go public with her own story.

There was more coming, and everyone knew it. So one member of Madigan’s caucus, North Side Rep. Kelly Cassidy, called for a full investigation. Shortly after, then-Madigan chief of staff Tim Mapes called the Cook County Sheriff’s Office inquiring about her second job there. Cassidy took it as a warning and resigned from the sheriff’s post. Madigan put out a statement denying any appearance that he had fired a warning shot.

Four months later, on June 6, 2018, Madigan fired Mapes, saying, “It is clear the (House) culture needs to change and we need to ensure all issues are dealt with quickly and appropriately.” Like perhaps the public statement of one ranking female House Democratic staffer, who said that when she asked Mapes to protect a female colleague who was being hit on by a state representative, Mapes replied, "Are you reporting the situation because you were upset the representative isn’t paying attention to you?"

Fast-forward to this year. Federal agents raided McClain’s and Kevin Quinn’s home, and subpoenaed Commonwealth Edison for records of its lobbying. The Chicago Tribune reported that among other things, the feds are examining why McClain and other ComEd lobbyists wrote Quinn $10,000 checks shortly after he supposedly was removed from Madigan’s political operation. Others reported that former City Club President Jay Doherty may have served as a conduit for distributing $3.1 million in ComEd lobbying fees to dozens of friends and associates of McClain and/or Madigan who did little work for that money. The state’s legislative inspector general reported that both Quinn and Mapes failed to cooperate with a probe into what had occurred.

Now, the latest, the email in which McClain had the temerity, the utter gall, the swaggering arrogance to say that his friend ought to keep a state job because he "kept his mouth shut" about "ghost workers, the rape in Champaign and other matters."

That's "extremely serious and troubling," Madigan said in a statement. "I had no knowledge of the incident referenced."

So will Madigan convene a committee to probe all of this, an idea proposed by House Republicans? Nope. Because of the "sensitivity" of the matter, it should be handled not by lawmakers in public but by "the appropriate authorities," Madigan declared.

In other words, let's hush it all up until the inspector general or someone does a report a few months down the road, after any elections. Kinda like President Donald Trump saying that top aides will testify before the GOP-controlled Senate, not the Democratic House, isn't it?

The best summary came when WBEZ caught up with McClain outside a Chicago restaurant and he confirmed that federal agents want him to flip on Madigan. Asked if it would be hard to betray Madigan, McClain responded, “It would be hard to betray myself.”

One in the same. Mike and Mike. Two peas in a pod. I couldn't have said it better myself.

That's the point, folks. I don’t know exactly what Mike Madigan knew and when he knew it. But there was no one closer to him than McClain and Mapes, and we now know how they acted.

Sleep with dogs and you get fleas. Shame on you, Mr. Speaker. It's time to go.