(The Center Square) – Prosecutors have introduced a series of recorded phone calls between lobbyists at the corruption trial of former Illinois House Speaker Michael Madigan and codefendant Michael McClain.
Lobbyist and former state government employee Nancy Kimme testified Thursday at the Everett McKinley Dirksen U.S. Courthouse in Chicago. Kimme served as chief of staff for Judy Baar Topinka, R-Riverside, during Topinka’s time as Illinois treasurer between 1994 and 2007 and again when Topinka was Illinois comptroller from 2011-2014.
Kimme said she would interact with Madigan’s staff when she wanted to know “if a bill was going to move.” Kimme said the speaker’s office controlled the flow of legislation through the Illinois House.
U.S. government attorney Julia Schwartz asked Kimme about a Chinatown development project on a state-owned parcel of land at Cermak Road and Wentworth Avenue, which former Chicago Alderman Daniel Solis testified about last week.
Schwartz introduced several emails and played more than 20 recorded phone calls between McClain and Kimme about the project.
Kimme said she spoke with state Rep. Theresa Mah, D-Chicago, about legislation to transfer the land from the state to the city of Chicago.
Kimme told McClain that Mah had “choice words about Solis” and was not in favor of advancing the legislation. According to Kimme, Mah said she did not trust Solis and had concerns about having enough parking in Chinatown.
Schwartz played a recording of Kimme advising McClain that Mah called the Chinatown bill “a scam cooked up by Solis.”
Kimme suggested that then-state Rep. Avery Bourne, R-Morrisonville, might be able to include the Chinatown transfer as an amendment to a land-transfer bill she was sponsoring. Kimme added that Bourne agreed to add the amendment, but she said Bourne had concerns and did not plan to call the bill. Kimme explained that the tabled legislation ended up in “the dust heap.”
Schwartz asked Kimme about former state Rep. Lou Lang, D-Skokie, who prosecutors called to testify in October. Kimme described Lang as a “business partner” in her lobbying work since 2019.
In cross-examination, McClain defense attorney Patrick Cotter described several of McClain’s actions, and Kimme agreed with Cotter that these were “normal lobbying” activities.
Kimme confirmed that the Chinatown parcel legislation never became law. She also said that McClain never told her that there was a connection between the land parcel and the developers hiring Madigan’s private law firm to do legal work.
Kimme told Madigan defense attorney Tom Breen that she worked on former Gov. Bruce Rauner’s transition team and helped recommend people for state agencies.
When Breen asked her about some of the language she used on the wiretapped recordings, Kimme said, “I would use a lot of different words than I used on those tapes.”
Kimme said solving the problems with the Chinatown parcel became her “Rubik’s Cube.”
In a recording dated Nov. 14, 2017, McClain told Alderman Solis that Kimme would help advance the proposed Chinatown land transfer.
“Nancy Kimme just gets things done quietly,” McClain said.
Solis then asked McClain about Speaker Madigan’s involvement.
“Once we get Nancy in and let’s say it works out, how will our friend be able to help,” Solis asked McClain.
“It’ll just be going through me,” McClain answered.
At a meeting recorded on Dec. 15, 2017, McClain explained why Kimme could help with a Chinatown land transfer of state-owned land.
“She’s the best one to negotiate with the Rauner group. Of all the lobbyists or anybody that you could hire, you couldn’t hire anybody better than her,” McClain told Solis.
Solis agreed with McClain and referred to both the governor and the speaker.
“That’s the uniqueness she has is that she has this relationship, or the trust with Rauner, and the same thing with our guy,” Solis told McClain.
Prosecutors called Raul Raymundo, co-founder and CEO of The Resurrection Project in Chicago, to the witness stand Thursday morning. Raymundo testified about his organization’s business relationship with then-Speaker Madigan’s son, Andrew, and the company he worked for, Alliant Insurance Services.
In cross-examination with Madigan defense attorney Todd Pugh, Raymundo testified that his chief financial officer, Anjanette Brown, did her due diligence before The Resurrection Project hired Alliant. When asked by Pugh, Raymundo said the decision to hire Alliant was in the best interests of the business only because of service, quality and cost.
Schwartz then called Brown to testify. Brown said she served as The Resurrection Project’s CFO from 2018 to 2023.
Brown testified about an introductory meeting she had with Andrew Madigan in September 2018 and said she did not consider other insurance brokers when she decided to hire Alliant.
Michael Madigan and McClain are charged with 23 counts of bribery, racketeering and official misconduct in connection with a scheme which 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 last year in a related trial, and ComEd itself agreed to pay $200 million in fines as part of a deferred prosecution agreement with prosecutors.
Madigan served in the Illinois House from 1971 to 2021. He was speaker for all but two years between 1983 and 2021. Madigan also chaired the Democratic Party of Illinois from 1998 to 2021.
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 Monday at the Everett McKinley Dirksen U.S. Courthouse in Chicago.
Judge John Robert Blakey advised the jury that Monday would be a short day in court.
Government attorneys said they expect U.S. Rep. Nikki Budzinski, D-Peoria, to testify on Monday. Budzinski worked as a special assistant to Governor-elect J.B. Pritzker in late 2018 and early 2019.
Prosecutors also indicated they planned to call former state Rep. Eddie Acevedo, D-Chicago, to testify next week. Acevedo was sentenced to six months in prison for tax evasion in March 2022.
