Ex-speaker faces prosecutor Bhachu at corruption trial

[January 14, 2025]  By Jim Talamonti | The Center Square

(The Center Square) – Prosecutors are taking aim at Michael Madigan’s previous statements at the former Illinois House speaker’s bribery and racketeering trial in Chicago.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Amar Bhachu peppered Madigan with questions Monday afternoon about how the former speaker’s political supporters got jobs.

Bhachu asked Madigan about his previous testimony that he was angry when he heard evidence that several of his allies had been getting paid for do-nothing jobs.

Bhachu then introduced government exhibit 156, a recording of a telephone conversation between Madigan and codefendant Michael McClain on August 4, 2018.

During the call, Madigan referred to former union executive Dennis Gannon.

“Remember, we got him that contract,” McClain told Madigan.

“Some of these guys have made out like bandits, Mike,” Madigan told McClain.

“For very little work, too,” McClain said.

Madigan and McClain are charged with 23 counts of bribery, racketeering and official misconduct in connection with a scheme that federal prosecutors referred to as "Madigan Enterprise."

Prosecutors allege that ComEd and AT&T Illinois gave out no-work or little-work jobs and contract work to those loyal to Madigan to get legislation passed that would benefit them in Springfield. Four ComEd executives and lobbyists were convicted in 2023 in a related trial, and ComEd itself agreed to pay $200 million in fines as part of a deferred prosecution agreement with prosecutors.

Madigan said former Chicago alderman and precinct captain Frank Olivo was his neighbor for “ten years, maybe more” and that he recommended Olivo’s appointment to the city council by then-Mayor Richard M. Daley.

The former speaker said he watched Olivo’s son, also named Frank, grow up and attended social gatherings with the Olivo family.

Bhachu displayed an email from April 2018 with names of people to be invited to Madigan’s birthday celebration that year.

The list included McClain, then-Madigan chief of staff Tim Mapes, 13th Ward Alderman Marty Quinn, Olivo and their spouses, along with a few other longtime acquaintances and family members.

Bhachu asked Madigan about his statement last week that he was not aware of Olivo receiving payments from ComEd for doing little or no work.

“That’s my testimony,” Madigan said.

Madigan said the ward committeeman determined who remained a precinct captain in the 13th Ward.

“I was the ward committeeman,” Madigan said.

Bhachu asked Madigan if he knew about precinct captain Ray Nice getting paid by ComEd through lobbyist Jay Doherty.

“I knew he was working with the Doherty company,” Madigan said.

“How did you know?” Bhachu asked.

Madigan said he didn’t have a memory of how he knew.

Madigan answered questions from Bhachu about a recorded call during which the former speaker and McClain discussed precinct captain Ed Moody’s deal with ComEd contractor Shaw Decremer.

“He had a full-time job at the same time Mr. McClain and Mr. Doherty were paying him, isn’t that right?” Bhachu asked.

“That’s my understanding, yes,” Madigan confirmed.

The former speaker said he expected Moody to stop receiving the payments once he obtained a full-time position in Cook County government.

Bhachu asked if Madigan’s job as a lawmaker was a full-time position.

“I worked as speaker seven days a week,” Madigan said.

“You worked at a law firm at the same time you were speaker of the House, right?” Bhachu asked.

“That’s correct,” Madigan said.

Bhachu introduced an email from McClain to then-ComEd executive Fidel Marquez.

“Our friend has talked to Ed Moody. Shaw is OK with his role. Please initiate all the paperwork,” the email stated, referring to Shaw Decremer.

When asked about his 2017 conversation with Moody about the work he would be doing for Shaw Decremer, Madigan hesitated.

“I don’t recall,” Madigan said.

“Not that particular conversation,” Madigan said when asked again.

Bhachu asked Madigan if he checked to see if Ed Moody was working hard for ComEd when he advised McClain to stop payments to Moody.

“I got a question. I gave advice,” Madigan said.

“It was a narrow question. I gave a narrow answer,” Madigan said when pressed again.

Bhachu asked the former speaker about his testimony at a civil deposition on Sept. 13, 2018, when Madigan testified about how he determined who he would recommend for jobs.

Madigan mentioned candidates who met his test for honesty and integrity and testified that Ed Moody and his brother Fred would meet this test.

Bhachu asked if Madigan’s ward organization paid the precinct captains.

“Not to my knowledge,” Madigan answered.

The former speaker agreed that many of the precinct captains expected Madigan to find a job for them in return for the political work they did for Madigan.

Prosecutors then played a videotaped interview from 2009, when Madigan discussed political patronage and how he took precinct captains and made them into salesmen.

“You’re gonna work for the Democratic Party,” Madigan said he would tell the precinct captains.

Madigan agreed that he was successful in his efforts to obtain work for Olivo, Nice and Ed Moody.

“In the case of [former state Rep. Eddie] Acevedo, I just gave his name to McClain,” Madigan said.

Federal prosecutor Amar Bhachu enters the federal court building in Chicago on Nov. 27, 2024 - Jim Talamonti | The Center Square

Bhachu asked Madigan about the hiring of Jeffrey Rush, the son of former U.S. Representative Bobby Rush, D-Chicago. In a recording previously introduced by the government, Madigan explained to McClain that Jeffrey Rush needed a job after he was dismissed by the Illinois Department of Corrections over a sexual relationship with an inmate.

Madigan said it was Congressman Rush who informed him that his son Jeffrey needed a job. Prosecutors introduced an employment document from Friends of Michael J. Madigan, which is the former speaker’s campaign committee, for Jeffrey Rush.

Bhachu asked the former speaker about his friendship with McClain.

“Did you ever tell him you appreciated his friendship?” Bhachu asked.

“Not that I recall,” Madigan responded.

Bhachu asked Madigan about an email in which McClain expressed that he was “at the bridge with his musket” and ready to defend Madigan and his family.

“I don’t think I was as loyal to him as he was to me,” Madigan testified.

“You trusted Mr. McClain with sensitive matters, right?” Bhachu asked.


“Sometimes,” Madigan answered.

In June 2018, around the time when Madigan Chief of Staff Tim Mapes was dismissed over a sexual-harassment allegation, Madigan said he was not aware of people clamoring for the speaker’s resignation.

Madigan said he did recall discussing the hiring of a crisis management firm with lobbyist and former Madigan aide Will Cousineau.

The former speaker admitted that he sometimes asked McClain to direct the activities of other legislators.

“Were you paying him personally for the work he did for you,” Bhachu asked.

“No,” Madigan answered.

“So he was doing it for free?” Bhachu asked.

“Yes,” Madigan said.

Bhachu asked about union contributions to the Friends of Michael J. Madigan, asking if it would not be unusual for labor unions to donate $3 million to $4 million per year.

“I don’t know the exact number, because they were significant contributors,” Madigan answered.

Bhachu asked Madigan about his efforts to place former Metropolitan Pier and Exposition (McPier) CEO Juan Ochoa on ComEd’s board of directors.

Madigan said he did not support refinancing legislation for McPier but told Bhachu he did not block the measure. Madigan said he was opposed in part because he had a high level of distrust for former Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich, D-Chicago.

Late Monday afternoon, Bhachu began asking Madigan about his interactions with former Chicago alderman and cooperating witness Daniel Solis.

Madigan confirmed that he testified last week that he had a great deal of “surprise and concern” that Solis mentioned “quid pro quo” in a conversation the two men had on June 23, 2017.

In a subsequent conversation, Madigan said Solis suggested there would be an exchange regarding the Union West development project in Chicago’s West Loop.

Madigan said Solis suggested four times that there would be zoning approval in exchange for the developer giving its tax business to Madigan’s firm. Madigan testified that he did not think it was appropriate.

Bhachu asked if Madigan’s next step was to arrange a meeting with the developers.

“That’s correct,” Madigan said.

Bhachu then played a recording of Madigan before the meeting with developers privately instructing Solis not to use the words, “quid pro quo.”

Bhachu asked Madigan if he lied when he told Solis that Solis was just recommending Madigan’s law firm and that the project would be in trouble if the developers didn’t get a good result on real estate taxes.

“No,” Madigan said.

Bhachu suggested that the project was not actually in trouble.

“That particular day, there was no threat,” Madigan admitted.

Bhachu asked Madigan if his statement about the project being in trouble was untrue.

“I was just giving him good advice based on my experience,” Madigan said.

Madigan said Solis was also intending to link business for Madigan’s firm with a Chicago Chinatown parcel which involved state-owned land.

Bhachu said that when Solis suggested doing something illegal, Madigan said “very good.”

“I’m just carrying the conversation and bringing the conversation to an end,” Madigan testified.

Former Assistant U.S. Attorney Patrick Collins predicted that the dynamic between Bhachu and Madigan would be significant.

“He has been, in many respects, the architect of this investigation, so I think it’s appropriate that he conduct the cross-examination,” Collins told The Center Square.

State Rep. Eva-Dina Delgado, D-Chicago, said that, until last week, she did not expect Madigan to testify.

“It was a surprise. It was certainly a surprise,” Delgado told The Center Square.

Delgado has served in the statehouse since 2019, when Madigan was still speaker.

“It sounds like he’s been approaching it in a very methodical way, which is, I think, very ‘on brand’ for Michael Madigan,” Delgado said.

Madigan served in the Illinois House from 1971 to 2021 and was speaker for all but two years between 1983 and 2021. He chaired the Democratic Party of Illinois for 23 years.

McClain was a longtime lobbyist who previously served as a state representative in Illinois’ 48th district from 1973 to 1982.

United States of America v. Madigan et al is scheduled to resume Tuesday at the Everett McKinley Dirksen U.S. Courthouse in Chicago.