The former top legal counsel to House Speaker Michael Madigan testified at Madigan’s corruption trial Wednesday that key legislation being pushed by ComEd and AT&T came amid a “political war” with then-Gov. Bruce Rauner and only passed after months of negotiations and compromise.
But Heather Wier Vaught, who worked for the speaker’s office for more than a decade and rose to be the office’s top lawyer, was also cross-examined about her loyalty to Madigan and efforts to circle the wagons after the investigation into the speaker’s operation went public with a series of FBI raids in 2019.
Wier Vaught is slated to be the last witness called by the ex-speaker’s defense team, who anticipate resting their case first thing Thursday morning.
Choosing Wier Vaught as the closer in the defense case demonstrates her importance to Madigan over the years. She was a fierce supporter of the speaker, serving for a time as one of Madigan’s personal lawyers, and handled sensitive assignments like the 2009 impeachment of Democratic Gov. Rod Blagojevich and the investigation into allegations of sexual harassment by Kevin Quinn, the brother of Madigan’s handpicked 13th Ward Ald. Marty Quinn.
Wier Vaught’s testimony confirmed her prominent standing in the speaker’s world, acknowledging she continued participating in meetings with the speaker and his staff even after leaving the office for the private sector.
“I was very committed to the office of the speaker, not just Speaker Madigan,” Wier Vaught testified. “And the Democratic caucus too.”
Her testimony was meant to bolster defense arguments that the former speaker was a collaborator who relied on his team to negotiate bills and sought their opinion before taking a position. Wier Vaught also testified there was a strong vetting process to identify any potential conflicts of interest between his private legal clients and state legislation.
Madigan, 82, a Southwest Side Democrat, and his longtime confidante Michael McClain, 77, of downstate Quincy, are charged in a 23-count indictment alleging that Madigan’s vaunted state and political operations were run like a criminal enterprise to increase his power and enrich himself and his associates.
In addition to alleging bribery schemes involving ComEd and AT&T Illinois, the indictment accuses Madigan of pressuring developers to hire the speaker’s law firm and trying to win business by secretly supporting legislation to transfer state-owned land in Chinatown to the city so developers could build a high-rise.
Wier Vaught also got a chance to reinforce Madigan’s hard political fight with Republican Gov. Bruce Rauner, saying his conservative “Turnaround Agenda” was the “antithesis of what the Democratic Party stood for” and not what many Republicans wanted either.
At the outset of her testimony, Wier Vaught, who now works as a lobbyist and government consultant, was telling the jury about her background when she paused to pour herself a cup of water.
“Careful – that jug is tricky,” Judge John Robert Blakey warned, as water spilled over the witness stand.
Later in the direct examination, the judge politely interrupted Wier Vaught several times, asking her to talk slower for the court reporter. “I know you’re nervous and that’s fine. But you’re over 300 words a minute, so try to slow down,” the judge said.
He was not as kind during her cross-examination, when he warned her to stop interrupting the prosecutor’s questions. “I’m not going to tell you again,” Blakey said.
Wier Vaught testified she joined the speaker’s office in her first full-time job out of law school. As deputy counsel, she was assigned to work directly with House members about Madigan’s House rules, which prosecutors have held up as a key part of the speaker’s power.
Wier Vaught, however, portrayed the rules as a collaborative process, saying she’d go out and ask House members, “what are your concerns with the rules, how would you like to see the rules change, what would you need to see in order to support them?”
Wier Vaught testified the rules were tweaked many times based on the feedback she got from the Democratic caucus.
Wier Vaught was promoted to chief counsel after David Ellis left in 2014. She said the political environment in Springfield grew toxic a short time later with the election of Rauner as governor.
Asked about Madigan’s relationship with Rauner, Wier Vaught said, “There was absolutely no relationship between the two. It was, basically, we were in the middle of a political war.”
Referencing the unprecedented two-year budget impasse while Rauner was governor, she said state services were essentially shut down. “We were living in a very traumatic time,” she said.
That political rift seeped into 2016 negotiations over the Future Energy Jobs Act, a ComEd-backed bill that is at the heart of bribery allegations against ComEd and Madigan.
In the midst of the negotiations over the bill, Wier Vaught said, the speaker’s office learned that Rauner was going to back a portion of the legislation subsidizing two Exelon nuclear power plants, which was still being negotiated.
What was the reaction? Madigan attorney Dan Collins asked.
“My personal reaction? Sh–,” Wier Vaught said , apologizing for the vulgarity.
After agreement was reached, FEJA went for a full vote in the House. Madigan did not cast a vote on that bill, she said.
After leaving the speaker’s office, Wier Vaught worked briefly as a lobbyist for ComEd, she confirmed on the stand.
Collins also asked about Wier Vaught’s involvement in AT&T legislation seeking to end mandated landline service, commonly referred to by the acronym COLR. Wier Vaught testified she was put in charge of negotiations by Madigan in 2015, and made the recommendation in a memo to the speaker that it be denied because the company had not gotten FCC approval, and the effort was “premature.”
Wier Vaught testified there was “objection and concern” from energy companies like Exelon and and Peoples Gas over COLR.
“If AT&T no longer had to maintain the copper wire lines … it would create a public safety concern” for things like the nuclear sites, the 911 system, and hospitals, she said.
Wier Vaught said they combined COLR with 911 reform, which was hard to pass alone. “Politically, asking members of the General Assembly to vote on things that would directly affect people’s pocketbooks, (they) tend to not want to vote on those things. And we had a Rauner problem,” she said.
Wier Vaught testified that after combining the COLR bill with 911 reform, she recommended moving the bill to Madigan. The bill was called and passed, with Madigan voting “yes.”
Did Madigan generally follow your recommendations? Collins asked
“Yes,” Vaught said.
On cross-examination, Assistant U.S. Attorney Diane MacArthur drilled down on Wier Vaught’s history as a top Madigan aide, asking whether she was often seen on the House floor.
“Oh yeah, a lot, yeah,” Wier Vaught said.
Standing at the speaker’s podium next to Madigan?
“Yes. I would stand next to the speaker, whoever was in the chair,” she said.
MacArthur also asked Wier Vaught about her actions after the FBI raids in May 2019. Wier Vaught confirmed she reached out to former Madigan staffer and strategist Will Cousineau that day and they met at a bench outside the state library, across the street from the Capitol and close to Cousineau’s consulting firm office.
“This conversation took place in a public space? Outside on a bench?” MacArthur asked, implying they were worried about being recorded.
Wier Vaught confirmed she spoke to Cousineau about the situation, but denied they talked specifically about the raid on McClain’s home, which she said she wasn’t aware of at the time.
The trial, which began Oct. 8 and is now in its 12th week of testimony, is finally nearing an end. Madigan’s defense team is expected to rest their case Thursday, followed by a short rebuttal case by prosecutors. The judge has said closing arguments will likely begin Jan. 22.
jmeisner@chicagotribune.com
