Tim Mapes, former chief of staff to former Illinois House Speaker Michael Madigan. Mapes was convicted of perjury for allegedly lying under oath when questioned by federal prosecutors about Madigan’s alleged criminal misconduct.
CHICAGO - Tim Mapes, who for decades served as the right hand for former Illinois House Speaker Michael Madigan and the Illinois Democratic Party's executive director, has launched a legal fight with the state to reclaim his $154,000 per year pension, saying the state pension board wrongly stripped him of his pension after he was convicted of perjury for allegedly attempting to obstruct federal criminal proceedings against his former boss.
On Aug. 28, Mapes filed suit in Cook County Circuit Court against Illinois' State Employees Retirement System and its board.
In the lawsuit, Mapes challenges the decision of the SERS board to take away his lucrative pension, which Mapes had amassed over three decades of state employment, most of it spent as chief of staff for Madigan.
SERS had acted at the recommendation of Illinois Attorney General Kwame Raoul and Illinois Comptroller Susana Mendoza, who had both agreed that Mapes had forfeited his pension when he was convicted of perjury in federal court for allegedly lying under oath under questioning from federal prosecutors building their criminal case against Madigan for alleged public corruption.
Madigan was convicted by a federal jury in February 2025 on charges of using the power and influence he had accumulated through four decades at the top of Illinois politics as Speaker of the Illinois House of Representatives and chairman of the Illinois Democratic Party to solicit and accept bribes in the form of favors, jobs and other benefits for those in his political operation from electrical utility ComEd.
According to the federal indictments, Madigan in exchange had provided his influence to push through new laws sought by ComEd allegedly to rake in billions of dollars from its Illinois electrical customers and to kill other legislation opposed by ComEd.
The former top Illinois Democrat is appealing his conviction and sentence and has not yet reported to prison to begin serving the sentence.
That investigation also resulted in indictments and convictions against ComEd and some of its executives and several of Madigan's prominent known associates.
Those others snared in the investigation included Mapes.
Mapes had served as a senior aide for Madigan since 1985, including serving as Madigan's chief of staff from 1992 to 2018. In that role, Mapes would often wield Madigan's power behind the scenes, using influence and making deals to advance the Speaker's agenda and further cement Madigan's power in Springfield.
Mapes' position in Madigan's organization also elevated him to the top of the Illinois Democratic Party, as well. From 1998-2018, while Illinois Democrats made Mapes' boss chairman of the state party, they also selected Mapes to serve as the state party's executive director.
Former Illinois House Speaker and Democratic Party Chairman Michael J. Madigan
Officially, Mapes served the Illinois Democratic Party as a "volunteer." However, Illinois Republicans asserted the arrangement essentially meant his compensation for that role was rolled into his pay as Madigan's chief of staff, meaning Illinois taxpayers were paying Mapes to run the state Democratic Party, too.
Mapes' political house crashed down in 2018, however, when a female former House staffer accused Mapes of sexual harassment.
Amid the investigation into those allegations, Mapes was accused of routine bullying, as well, for allegedly regularly yelling at House staffers and others and threatening their jobs. Those who attempted to resist were then allegedly smeared and hounded by Madigan's political operatives in attempts to discredit them for standing up to Mapes or others in Madigan's circle, potentially including the now-convicted former Speaker.
In 2018, Mapes resigned both of his roles as Madigan's chief of staff and as executive director of the Illinois Democratic Party.
However, in 2022, Mapes' personal fortunes took a further downward turn, when he was questioned under oath by federal investigators pursuing Madigan.
According to prosecutors, Mapes willfully lied in response to several key questions concerning actions taken by Madigan, in an apparent bid to protect his former boss and benefactor.
Mapes was later charged with perjury and convicted in 2023.
Mapes was sentenced to two and a half years in federal prison.
Following his conviction, Raoul and Mendoza moved to also strip Mapes' retirement pension.
While the Illinois state constitution generally forbids public worker pensions from being "diminished or impaired" in any way, the law also allows the state to take away pension benefits otherwise earned by those who are convicted of public corruption or other crimes related to their service in government.
Raoul cited that exception in an opinion submitted to the SERS board in which the attorney general said he believed SERS should take away Mapes' pension.
"In sum, Mapes was in a position to commit these offenses because of the knowledge gained in his capacity as Chief of Staff for the Speaker. Mapes was employed as a senior aide to the Speaker for over 25 years. In this role, he obtained information related to the activities of the Speaker, as well as other current and former elected officials, and took actions and communicated with others in that capacity. Mapes attempted to hide these communications and actions. Mapes’ false statements, and the corresponding obstruction, thus clearly related to his public employment," Raoul wrote in the recommendation.
Mendoza, who serves on the SERS board, concurred in that opinion, saying: "It is my personal opinion that anyone convicted of violating the public trust should be stripped of their taxpayer-funded pension."
The SERS board followed through on the recommendations in July 2025, and revoked Mapes' pension benefits.
Mendoza said Mapes' pension annuity was worth $154,000 per year, as of 2024.
Mapes has now challenged that decision in court, asking a Cook County judge to review and overturn the SERS board's decision.
In the lawsuit, Mapes asserts the state had no basis to strip his pension, because he was not serving in any state office or as a state employee at the time he was questioned under oath or when he was convicted.
"A plain reading of the statute makes clear that Mapes’ conviction was not related to, arising out of, or in connection with his public duties. He was not in public service when he committed his crimes. He was already retired for almost three years when he testified before a federal grand jury," Mapes' attorney wrote in the complaint.
"More, the conduct at issue in Mapes’ trial involved Mapes’ post-employment grand jury testimony about post-employment conversations with a fellow private citizen. Nor was there any evidence that Mapes’ post-employment conduct as a private citizen reached back in time or that Mapes directed or encouraged a sitting public servant to take any action."
The state has not yet filed a response to Mapes' petition.
Mapes is represented in the action by attorneys Andrew C. Porter and Sarah L. Bakker, of the firm of Salvatore Prescott Porter & Porter, of Evanston.
