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USA v. Michael Madigan
Chicago corruption trials
News

Jurors set to hear first of 200 secret recordings in Madigan corruption trial
The start of Madigan’s racketeering conspiracy trial is largely mirroring the ComEd bribery trial, so far. Ex-state Rep. Lou Lang is expected to testify soon, and he was spotted Wednesday down the hall from Madigan’s trial courtroom.



By 
Jon Seidel, Matthew Hendrickson and Dave McKinney | WBEZ

 
        

 















Former Illinois House Speaker Michael Madigan walks outside the Dirksen Federal Courthouse.Anthony Vazquez/Sun-Times









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The backbone of the case against former Illinois House Speaker Michael J. Madigan consists of more than 200 recordings that prosecutors promised jurors would hear over the next several weeks.The tapes could begin to roll as soon as Thursday. And if the first few days of testimony are any indication, things will play out much the way they did early in last year’s ComEd bribery trial, which ended with the conviction of Madigan’s co-defendant, Michael McClain, and three others.The first bombshell moment of that trial involved the testimony of ex-state Rep. Lou Lang. The FBI secretly recorded a 2018 call between Lang and McClain, in which McClain told Lang to resign from the General Assembly. McClain also claimed to be someone’s “agent” — and the feds say he meant Madigan.Now, the start of Madigan’s racketeering conspiracy trial is largely mirroring the start of the ComEd trial. Lang is expected to testify Thursday. He was spotted Wednesday down the hall from Madigan’s trial courtroom.That means testimony — which so far has given jurors a lesson on Springfield, Madigan’s power and ComEd’s need to pass crucial legislation — is about to heat up.
Trial highlightsJudge Blakey ruled that ex-state Rep. Eddie Acevedo will have to testify despite competency concerns.Jurors heard testimony about alleged efforts by AT&T Illinois to bribe Michael Madigan.Prosecutors still expect to rest next week.
The witnesses so far include ex-state Reps. Carol Sente and Scott Drury, as well as ComEd executive Scott Vogt. Prosecutors told the judge they next plan to call Lang and FBI Special Agent Ryan McDonald. The same group served as the first five witnesses in the ComEd trial.Madigan’s trial always threatened to serve, in part, as a re-run of that case. The same allegations in the ComEd trial are contained in six of the 23 counts in Madigan’s 117-page indictment. Prosecutors say ComEd paid $1.3 million to five Madigan allies for do-nothing jobs, hoping that he’d act favorably toward ComEd’s legislation in Springfield.McClain worked as one of ComEd’s lobbyists, and Vogt actually testified Wednesday that he was perhaps the most important lobbyist in its stable.There are allegations in Madigan’s indictment beyond the ComEd scheme. But another key difference this year is the presence of Madigan’s defense team. For example, Lang has testified about his November 2018 call with McClain twice — once in the ComEd trial and again during last year’s perjury trial of Madigan’s longtime chief of staff, Tim Mapes.But Lang did not face cross-examination from a Madigan defense attorney either time.The Lang episode actually threatens to undermine a claim made by Madigan attorney Tom Breen during his opening statement this week: That Madigan was “completely ignorant of what people are saying behind his back” and that people “don’t have the authority to speak that way for Michael Madigan.”That’s because the FBI didn’t just record the phone call between McClain and Lang. Agents also recorded McClain speaking separately to Madigan and Mapes. Someone had threatened to come forward with an allegation against Lang around that time, following months of #MeToo scandals in Springfield.McClain got on the phone with Mapes on Oct. 31, 2018, and said, “I gotta tell him that he’s gotta move on. That he has no future in the House.” Then, on Nov. 3, 2018, McClain asked Madigan “when do you want me to call Lang and just lower the boom on him?”“Sooner rather than later,” Madigan told him.McClain’s phone call with Lang took place five days after that.“I’m an agent,” McClain told him, “somebody that cares deeply about ya, who thinks that you really oughta move on.”
Why the Madigan trial matters
Why the Madigan trial mattersMichael J. Madigan was the longest-serving state House speaker in the United States. That position made him the leader of the Illinois House of Representatives for nearly four decades, where he shepherded legislation that affected everyday life in Illinois. He also served for more than 20 years as the head of the Democratic Party of Illinois. Ultimately, he rose to become one of the most dominant politicians in Illinois since the late Chicago Mayor Richard J. Daley.What to expect in the trialWho was caught up in the investigationWho is Judge John Blakey?The documents behind the caseRead all our coverage of the historic trial here.
The jurors who are among the next to hear that recording spent their day Wednesday learning more about why ComEd needed to pass legislation in Springfield so badly. Vogt told jurors he believed Madigan’s support was essential.An electrical rate freeze between 1998 and 2006 created a “dire” financial situation for ComEd, Vogt explained. It significantly affected ComEd’s investment in infrastructure, leading to increased power outages and longer wait times to get customers’ power back on.The utility lobbied heavily for the passage of the Energy Infrastructure and Modernization Act in 2011, as well as the Future Energy Jobs Act in 2016, which helped ComEd more reliably predict the rates it could charge customers.“[Madigan] controlled, to a large degree, what bills made it to the floor… and had an opportunity to be voted on,” Vogt, a senior vice president for strategy, told the jury.But on cross-examination, Madigan attorney Dan Collins peppered Vogt with questions about the bill’s widespread benefits, including for the jurors hearing the case. The benefits included job creation and statewide infrastructure investment, Vogt testified.McClain attorney Patrick Cotter also pressed Vogt on whether McClain ever suggested a secret deal with Madigan was afoot.“At any point in the almost 10-year period you spent with Mike [McClain], did he ever say or do anything that led you to believe he had the ability to get Mike Madigan to take official action on behalf of ComEd?” Cotter asked.Vogt said he did not.





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wtf is taking so long?