Former ComEd executive testifies about pressure from Madigan’s confidant in law firm hiring deal
Madigan corruption trial enters 4th week
Testimony has resumed in the federal corruption trial of Michael Madigan. The jury heard all day from the former top lawyer of Commonwealth Edison, who testified about a pressure campaign by former speaker Mike Madigan to hire a politically connected law firm.
CHICAGO - The second week of the criminal trial of former Illinois House Speaker Michael Madigan got underway Monday, as federal prosecutors continue to build their case that Madigan traded his power to score jobs and contracts for his political supporters.
The jury heard hours of testimony from the former top lawyer at Commonwealth Edison, who described a pressure campaign by Madigan to hire a politically connected Chicago law firm.
Madigan and his friend and confidante Michael McClain are on trial for 23 federal felony counts, including bribery, racketeering, wire fraud, and extortion.
Today’s testimony focused on Comed’s successful attempts to pass a series of bills in Springfield between 2011 and 2016 that raised utility rates in return for upgrading the power grid system.
Comed’s former chief counsel, Tom O’Neill, testified that in the middle of all the legislative negotiations he was getting pressure from Madigan through Michael McClain to hire a law firm run by powerful Chicago Democrat Victor Reyes, who at one time also ran the Hispanic Democratic Organization and was a political ally of Madigan’s.
O’Neill testified that Comed agreed to guarantee 850 hours of legal work a year to Reyes‘ law firm. But O'Neill said he later wanted to pull the plug on the deal or reduce the hours because there wasn’t enough work to go around.
O'Neill said that’s when he got a message from McClain, who was working as a Comed lobbyist, "basically expressing that we should continue to retain Reyes and not cut the hours." Prosecutors later showed the jury an email from McClain to O’Neill in which McClain writes, "I’m sure you know how valuable Victor is to our Friend." That friend, O’Neill testified, meant Speaker Madigan.
O’Neill told jurors that he felt pressured to continue paying Reyes in order to keep Madigan happy.
The trial will continue Tuesday with O’Neill facing cross-examination by defense attorneys, who have argued prosecutors are trying to criminalize the give and take of politics.