A federal judge on Wednesday denied a motion to toss out key charges against former House Speaker Michael Madigan in light of the U.S. Supreme Court’s recent ruling tightening the federal bribery statute.
In his written ruling, U.S. District Judge John Robert Blakey said the indictment “explicitly alleges that Madigan performed official acts related to legislation affecting ComEd in exchange for ComEd’s hiring of certain individuals,” and therefore clears the bar imposed by the high court, which said “gratuities,” or rewards given to a politician after the fact, are not criminalized under the law.
The ruling meant it’s full steam ahead for the highly anticipated trial, which gets underway with jury selection at the Dirksen U.S. Courthouse next week. During a pretrial hearing Wednesday, attorneys for both sides spent hours hashing out objections over evidence, including portions of wiretapped calls and video-recorded meetings that the defense claims would be prejudicial.
Among the tapes the defense wants excluded is a portion of a December 2017 videotaped meeting between Madigan’s longtime confidant and now co-defendant, Michael McClain, and then-Ald. Daniel Solis, who was secretly cooperating with the FBI. While the recording has previously been outlined in pretrial findings, many of the details were revealed for the first time as the parties discussed it in court.
During the conversation, Solis and McClain talk about various aldermen and legislators whom they perceive as corrupt, at one point remarking you need a “prover” in the room with you when you meet with them to protect you from future accusations, the lawyers told Blakey.
“You oughta take somebody with you so that you have somebody to say, ‘No, that’s not what was said,’” McClain said at one point on the recording. “I mean, don’t go by yourself.”
Among the names tossed around by Solis and McClain were the now-convicted Ald. Ed Burke — whom Solis was also secretly cooperating against at the time — and former state legislators Annazette Collins, Marty Sandoval and Luis Arroyo, who have all since been convicted of corruption.
Solis and McClain also referenced the city’s unofficial moniker, “Ube est mea,” or “Where’s mine?” coined by former newspaper columnist Mike Royko, and talked about people like Arroyo still idolizing corrupt aldermen like Fred Roti and Vito Marzullo, according to what was discussed in court. They also made passing reference to Burke’s work reducing property taxes for Donald Trump’s downtown skyscraper.
Solis then asked McClain, “So, how does, um, how does the Speaker deal with all this? ‘Cause these are all strong allies,” according to prosecutors.
McClain explained, “Well, he, he does surrogates. . . a guy like me, he sends to go talk to (certain public
officials).”
Madigan attorney Jonathan Brayman objected to prosecutors playing that portion of the discussion, arguing “The danger of prejudice is overwhelming,” given that the politicians discussed are now convicted felons and Solis describes them as Democratic allies.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Julia Schwartz, however, argued the recording was highly relevant because McClain is emphasizing to Solis “the need to be discreet.”
Blakey took the arguments under advisement and will rule on the conversation’s admissibility at a later date.
Blakey Wednesday did decline to dismiss a host of counts, including the main racketeering charge, and denied a motion by McClain to be severed from the trial.
Earlier in the hearing, Blakey told the parties that out of more than a thousand prospective jurors who were sent summons, they have a pool of 180 people who were not struck right off the bat due to the length of the trial.
Madigan attorney Dan Collins said he anticipates a lot of “for-cause” challenges based on jurors’ knowledge and opinions about the former speaker, adding that the ComEd Four trial last year, which did not include Madigan as a defendant “is not a fair equivalent.”
“It’s just a function of how much negative press there has been,” Collins said.
Blakey says he plans to err on the side of caution, and if jury selection takes longer than expected, so be it.
Madigan, 82, and McClain, 76, are charged in a 23-count indictment alleging Madigan’s vaunted state and political operations were run like a criminal enterprise to amass and increase his power and enrich himself and his associates.
In addition to the Chinatown scheme, the indictment accuses Madigan and McClain of conspiring to have utility giants Commonwealth Edison and AT&T Illinois put the speaker’s associates on contracts requiring little or no work in exchange for Madigan’s assistance on key legislation in Springfield.
ComEd allegedly also heaped legal work onto a Madigan ally, granted his request to put a political associate on the state-regulated utility’s board and distributed bundles of summer internships to college students living in his Southwest Side legislative district, according to the charges.
Both Madigan and McClain have denied any wrongdoing.
jmeisner@chicagotribune.com