Good afternoon, Chicago.
A lawyer for ex-House Speaker Michael Madigan’s longtime confidant told a federal jury today that the allegations of bribery and corruption against the pair attempt to criminalize legal lobbying and relationship building at the center of the state’s politics.
“The evidence will show Mike McClain was a lobbyist, and like all lobbyists, (he) understood if you want to get access to a politician you need to develop a relationship of trust,” defense attorney John Mitchell told the jury in his opening statement.
Madigan, 82, faces racketeering charges alleging he ran his state and political operations like a criminal enterprise, scheming with utility giants ComEd and AT&T to put his cronies on contracts requiring little or no work and using his public position to drum up business for his private law firm. Both Madigan and McClain, 77, a former ComEd lobbyist, have pleaded not guilty and denied wrongdoing.
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Two plastic swans help hold up a sign that reads: “Do not play in the dirt or around the mulch” at a housing unit at the West Calumet Housing Complex in East Chicago in 2016. (Antonio Perez/Chicago Tribune)
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