Madigan attorney calls indictment 'a worthless piece of paper'

[January 28, 2025]  By Jim Talamonti | The Center Square

(The Center Square) – Closing arguments by defense attorneys are expected to finish Tuesday at the corruption trial of former Illinois House Speaker Michael Madigan and codefendant Michael McClain in Chicago.

Madigan attorney Dan Collins wrapped up his final arguments on behalf of the former speaker Monday afternoon.

Collins reminded the jury that the indictment against Madigan is not evidence and called it “a worthless piece of paper.”

Of the indictment’s 23 corruption-related charges against Madigan, Collins said 16 of them were based on the work of former Chicago Alderman and cooperating witness Daniel Solis.

Calling Solis a “malignant tumor at the heart of this case,” Collins said Solis was “a stage actor” in government productions.

Collins said Madigan only knew the Solis who was a community organizer.

“He did not know this other side that we now know about,” Collins said.

“He didn’t now that Solis was a massive tax cheat, and the government didn’t know that either, when this case started,” Collins asserted.

The defense attorney said Solis was committing crimes while cooperating with the government and told the jury to consider that when assessing Solis’ credibility.

“He kept lying over and over again on the witness stand,” Collins said. “All blaming someone else.”

Collins said the government had to correct what Solis testified about reach-outs against Madigan, and a long break ensued after the ex-alderman’s statement.

Judge John Robert Blakey sustained an objection by Assistant U.S. Attorney Amar Bhachu. Collins then said the length of the break didn’t matter.

“He gave you false testimony, and he had to correct it,” Collins said of Solis.

In his arguments against charges related to the Union West development in Chicago, Collins also targeted Solis.

Collins said Union West developer Andrew Cretal testified that he did not recall communications with Madigan or his law partner, Bud Getzendanner, in July or August 2017.

Collins said it was Solis who led Cretal to reengage with Madigan’s firm.

“This is all Solis manipulating the situation. It had nothing to do with Mike,” Collins said.

Collins said Solis was also a stage actor in the production involving Solis’ potential appointment to a state board seat.

“It’s not a bribe,” Collins said of Madigan agreeing to recommend Solis.

Collins argued that Madigan did not hold up a debt relief bill because he wanted former Metropolitan Pier and Exposition Authority CEO Juan Ochoa to be appointed to ComEd’s board of directors.

“There’s no bribe there,” Collins argued.

When addressing ComEd-related charges against Madigan, Collins said McClain exaggerated his own importance when lobbyists celebrated the passage of the Future Energy Jobs Act (FEJA) and McClain claimed Madigan “put 47 votes” on FEJA.

Collins said FEJA was a bipartisan bill and only 44 Democrats voted for it.

Regarding former Madigan staffer Will Cousineau’s testimony, Collins said there were inconsistencies.

“He was scared to death up there,” Collins said of Cousineau. “He got himself an immunity deal.”

Collins said it was McClain who claimed he got the Reyes Kurson law firm a lot of business from ComEd over the years, even though firm partner Victor Reyes was a longtime Madigan ally.

“ComEd had a policy of supporting minority businesses,” Collins said.

“That cannot be a thing of value in exchange for official action.”

Collins said Madigan was “helping kids find opportunities” when he recommended that ComEd hire his candidates as paid summer interns.

Former Illinois House Speaker Michael Madigan as he enters into the federal court building in Chicago Tuesday, Nov. 5, 2024 - Jim Talamonti | The Center Square

The former speaker’s attorney insisted that Madigan did not get anything in exchange for ComEd’s hires.

“Mike did not recommend them in exchange for official action,” Collins said.

Collins blasted former Madigan precinct captain Ed Moody, who also testified with immunity for the government.

“He knows how the game is played,” Collins said.

Madigan’s attorney said Moody made up a conversation with Madigan that Madigan said never happened.

“It’s not to be believed,” Collins told the jury.

Collins moved on to three ComEd-related bribery counts against Madigan.

“There’s gotta be a this for that, and there’s no this for that in this place,” Collins said.

Chicago attorney Sam Adam Jr. said the government has to prove there was an exchange.

“It’s gonna have to be really explicit and show that it’s explicit, especially in the case before Judge Blakey, whose father actually was the one that wrote the law on RICO. It was his father that came up with the RICO statutes,” Adam told The Center Square.

Judge Blakey’s father, G. Robert Blakey, helped draft the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act, which was part of the Organized Crime Control Act of 1970.

Collins said, “It’s not true” that Madigan controlled all the legislation in Springfield, despite several former lawmakers’ testimony that Madigan did control legislation.

The former speaker has pleaded not guilty to 23 counts of corruption.

Prosecutors allege that ComEd and AT&T Illinois gave out no-work or little-work jobs and contract work to Madigan allies to get legislation passed that would benefit them in Springfield.

McClain and three others were convicted in 2023 in the related ComEd Four trial, and ComEd itself agreed to pay $200 million in fines as part of a deferred prosecution agreement with prosecutors. AT&T agreed to pay $23 million as part of a deferred prosecution agreement with prosecutors.

Madigan is also accused of using his public office to gain business for his private law firm, Madigan & Getzendanner.

Chicago South Side Republican Chairman Devin Jones said corruption in the system abuses the middle class and poor people.

“Like you said, you can’t look at your ComEd bill the same way. We’re forced to continue to pay that bill. Otherwise, you don’t have electricity,” Jones told The Center Square.

Jones said Madigan’s influence is still present in Springfield.

“Many of these people that are in the state legislature are either Madigan’s chosen successors or they have been there,” Jones 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 an Illinois state representative from 1973 to 1982 and then worked for years as a lobbyist and close associate of Madigan.

After closing arguments by McClain’s team at the Everett McKinley Dirksen U.S. Courthouse on Tuesday, Bhachu is slated to deliver the government’s rebuttal. Blakey said he would have a few final instructions before the jury begins deliberations.