Mac Hoffmann: former Statehouse staffer turns Madigan downfall into folk music
Former Illinois House Speaker Mike Madigan may be heading for a 7.5-year stint in the federal pen, but his corrupt legend lives on thanks to a folk song by a former staffer.
The first job Mac Hoffmann got out of law school was at the Illinois Statehouse.
“This was in 2015, at the height of the budget standoff between Madigan and Bruce Rauner,” he said. “I came in there very much idealistic, excited to make a difference and work on important legislation. And that certainly was a big part of it.”
But when the initial glamour wore off, Hoffmann sensed some aspects of the world he stepped into were over his head.
“I was a political insider by the average citizen’s definition, but I was still on the perimeter of the true heart of it. That was definitely by design. That’s part of how power is maintained,” he said.
“I saw a certain degree of using loyalty and silence to control people, and a lot of it was fear-based.”
What Hoffmann sensed without fully comprehending was a corruption the whole world now knows. Mike Madigan, using the Illinois House speaker position he held for 36 years, was trading political favors for money and power.
His other position, as the head of Illinois Democratic Party, meant he could choose to fund or challenge his fellow representatives based on whether they conformed to his agenda.
For Hoffmann, that tense environment had life-altering consequences.
“By the end of my second session, I was totally burned out and self-medicating with alcohol. I entered a treatment program for about a year and rebooted my life,” he said.
Hoffmann moved back to the Twin Cities where he grew up. He slowed down, traveled and eventually met his future wife. With her support, he left the legal field for good.
“I switched to software engineering. It seems like a total non-sequitur, but it was a good fit for my natural aptitudes. Also, it gave me the work-life balance to focus on my creative side,” he said.
For Hoffmann, that “creative side” meant writing music.
“As life stabilized, I had this voice in the back of my head saying, ‘Mac, if you don’t write you’re not going to be okay with yourself existentially.’ I wrote about things like romantic tension, absurdity, various shades of Americana.”
He rarely thought much about the tense times under the Springfield dome, until February 2025.
“When I heard about the conviction, it prompted me to reflect. Time can be a revealer. It offers perspective,” he said. “My work under Madigan was a very cinematic time in my life, like something straight out of a movie. And I thought, ‘You know what? I’m going to take a stab at something political.’”
Just after Madigan’s sentencing, Hoffmann released the result: a 7-minute folk ballad, “The Fall of the Velvet Hammer.”
“The staffer in the song who gets chewed up and spit out, that was very autobiographical. That’s the undercurrent of humanity in the song,” he said. “It’s a bummer that it happened the way it did, but all things happen for a reason. It ended up having a positive impact on my life. Actually, on June 1, I celebrated nine years sober.”
Hoffmann is glad to be out of the political world. As far as justice catching up with his old boss, Hoffmann said he remains a realist.
“My song isn’t about taking sides. It’s about how power works. Madigan being convicted is a very significant moment in Chicago and Illinois political history. But I’ve got to believe power reconfigures itself after that,” he said.
“The machinery will evolve and exist in some capacity. That’s just the nature of how government works. And the purpose of art is more often to raise the question than propose the answer.”