(The Center Square) – Jurors in one of the state’s highest-profile corruption cases got a lesson about the Chicago political machine Monday afternoon, as federal prosecutors lay the foundation for their case against former Illinois House Speaker Michael Madigan.
Prosecutors called Dick Simpson, professor emeritus in Political Science at the University of Illinois at Chicago, to the witness stand for the lessons.
He detailed the breakdown Chicago wards and precincts and the precinct captains that help win aldermanic elections in the city. Chicago has 50 wards that each elect one person to the Chicago City Council. Madigan held the 13th ward, near Midway Airport, for most of storied political career.
Prosecutors allege that Madigan used his clout to get no-show jobs for his best precinct captains. Those captains and other political operatives got $5,000-a-month jobs that required little or no actual work.
Prosecutors allege that in exchange for no-show jobs, contracts and other benefits, Madigan helped utilities such as ComEd and AT&T Illinois get beneficial legislation passed in Springfield.
Madigan’s defense team had previously asked Judge John Robert Blakey to keep Simpson from taking the stand in front of a jury. They argued Simpson’s testimony would be “unreliable, irrelevant, and highly prejudicial.”
The judge disagreed and allowed Simpson to testify, but he had set boundaries for that testimony before trial.
Prosecutors called Simpson to the stand to explain how Chicago politics and government work, including the workings of Ward organizations and Chicago’s political machine.
The judge previously ruled that Simpson could not offer his opinion on the motives of precinct captains and political workers and put some boundaries around what he could testify about.
Another judge excluded Simpson’s testimony from a 2023 corruption trial focused on four former ComEd executives and lobbyists accused of a scheme to reward Madigan in exchange for help with legislation in Springfield that would affect the electric utility company. In that case, Judge Harry Leinenweber said the jury didn’t need an explanation and that a detailed history of the corruption of the Chicago political machine could prejudice the jury. A jury convicted the four ComEd executives and lobbyists in May 2023. A judge has yet to sentence those defendants.
ComEd agreed to pay $200 million in July 2020 to resolve a criminal investigation into the years-long bribery scheme. As part of a deferred prosecution agreement, ComEd admitted it arranged $1.3 million in jobs, vendor subcontracts and payments to influence Madigan. AT&T Illinois agreed to pay $23 million as part of its own deferred prosecution agreement in 2022.
Madigan served in the Illinois House from 1971 to 2021. He served as speaker of the Illinois House from 1983 to 1995 and again from 1997 to 2021. He wielded additional power as chairman of the Democratic Party of Illinois.
Madigan, who resigned after losing the House speakership in January 2021, faces 23 counts of racketeering, bribery and official misconduct. He has pleaded “not guilty.”
