Michael McClain
CHICAGO — As former Illinois House Speaker Michael Madigan prepares for a federal jury to decide whether he ran “a criminal enterprise” as the state’s most powerful politician, he now faces a team of prosecutors emboldened by their perfect record of convictions in two trials. Madigan, 81, once so dominant that he was known as…
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CHICAGO — Tim Mapes, a Hancock County native whose rose to the pinnacle of power in the State of Illinois as the right hand man to Michael J. Madigan when he served as speaker of the Illinois House, has been found guilty on perjury and obstruction of justice charges by a federal jury. Mapes, who…
Read Full Article CHICAGO – After a nearly three-week trial that pulled back the curtain on the inner workings of former Illinois House Speaker Michael Madigan’s world, the fate of one of Madigan’s most loyal aides is now in the hands of a federal jury. Tim Mapes, who spent more than 25 years as Madigan’s chief of staff,…
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CHICAGO – In more than two weeks of his obstruction of justice and perjury trial, one fact about the longtime chief of staff to former Illinois House Speaker Michael Madigan came up time and again: Tim Mapes was detail-oriented. Mapes not only served as Madigan’s top aide for more than 25 years, but he also…
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CHICAGO – In the fall of 2018, then-state Rep. Lou Lang, D-Skokie, thought he might have been in line for a big promotion in the Illinois House of Representatives. He’d unexpectedly run into a stumbling block earlier in the year when a woman publicly accused him of sexual harassment, but the allegations had been thin…
Read Full Article CHICAGO – Nearly six months after former Illinois House Speaker Michael Madigan was forced to fire his longtime chief of staff, those in the speaker’s inner circle were once again realizing just how much they’d come to rely on Tim Mapes. It was late November 2018, and Democrats had just won big in the general…
Read Full Article CHICAGO – In early 2018, longtime Illinois House Speaker Michael Madigan was facing a sexual harassment scandal that his closest advisors worried could doom his political future. A 28-year-old Democratic campaign operative named Alaina Hampton had publicly accused Madigan of mishandling complaints that another top political staffer within the speaker’s close orbit had made unwanted…
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Former House Speaker Michael Madigan has long been known as “The Velvet Hammer” for the way he quietly wielded power. But in a federal courtroom Monday, the man once considered Illinois’ most powerful politician may have been given a new moniker: Don Madigan. Testifying in the perjury trial of Madigan’s longtime chief of staff, Tim…
Read Full Article CHICAGO – Taking occasional notes – a habit hard-wired after more than 25 years as Illinois House Speaker Michael Madigan’s chief of staff – Tim Mapes sat and listened to opening statements in his perjury and obstruction of justice trial in a federal courtroom on Wednesday. Mapes allegedly lied to a grand jury in 2021…
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CHICAGO – In the summer of 2018, Tim Mapes’ name had only recently faded from unflattering headlines after he was forced to resign from three top jobs he held under powerful Illinois House Speaker Michael Madigan. Mapes, who’d served as Madigan’s chief of staff for more than two decades, had been accused of sexual harassment…
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CHICAGO — Michael Madigan’s former chief of staff reached out to a defense attorney for the then-powerful Illinois House speaker after he was approached by FBI agents in early 2019, then he called a longtime Madigan confidant and said he was “reporting in,” prosecutors say. While the feds do not argue those actions by Timothy…
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Bliefnick removed from QU Sports Hall of Fame; is McClain's removal from QU Legal Hall of Fame next?
QUINCY — Tim Bliefnick graduated from Quincy University in 2005 and played football for the Hawks as a student-athlete. He was good enough to be named an All-American and be selected for the school’s Sports Hall of Fame in 2019. The following paragraph is from a QU news release announcing the school’s induction class for…
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CHICAGO — Exelon, the parent company for Commonwealth Edison, has been paying the legal fees for two now-convicted former Edison executives who were part of a conspiracy to bribe former Illinois House Speaker Michael Madigan, WBEZ has learned. The move has created an unusual dynamic. On one hand, the company’s subsidiary, ComEd, is cooperating with federal investigators…
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CHICAGO — State officials suspended the legislative pension of former lobbyist Michael McClain after his conviction May 2 alongside the ‘ComEd Four’ on bribery charges, but the suspension may only be temporary. McClain, a former Illinois House representative and ComEd lobbyist with longtime ties to former Illinois House Speaker Michael Madigan, was found guilty on nine counts of conspiring and falsifying…
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Ray Long of the Chicago Tribune covered the “ComEd 4” trial and also, literally, wrote the book on Michael Madigan, former speaker of the Illinois House of Representatives. He and MRN’s Bob Gough talk about the outcome and what it means for future lobbying efforts in the Statehouse. McClain’s sentencing in federal court is scheduled…
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Muddy River News MRN THIS WEEK PODCAST: Ray Long Play Episode Pause Episode Mute/Unmute Episode Rewind 10 Seconds 1x Fast Forward 30 seconds 00:00 / 00:16:11 Subscribe Share Stitcher RSS Feed Share Link Embed Download file | Play in new window | Duration: 00:16:11 | Recorded on May 4, 2023Subscribe: StitcherRay Long of the Chicago…
Read Full Article Local and state political leaders are reacting to Tuesday’s guilty verdict of retired lobbyist Mike McClain of Quincy on nine charges of federal bribery. Statement from the office of Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker: “Since taking office, Gov. Pritzker has advanced the cause of ethics reform in key areas, especially in bringing more transparency to the…
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“It was pride that changed angels into devils; it is humility that makes men as angels.” — St. Augustine Mike McClain’s friends and supporters always saw him as their champion. When roads and bridges needed to be built, McClain got the call. Need a Civic Center? McClain is on it. The ultimate fixer. The insider’s…
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CHICAGO – A federal jury on Tuesday convicted three ex-lobbyists and the former CEO of electric utility Commonwealth Edison for their involvement in an alleged bribery scheme aimed at longtime Illinois House Speaker Michael Madigan. Former ComEd CEO Anne Pramaggiore and Mike McClain of Quincy – the utility’s longtime contract lobbyist and close confidant of…
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CHICAGO – Attorneys for both the defendants and the government made the same appeal to a federal jury Tuesday before it was left to deliberate the fate of four former Commonwealth Edison officials accused of bribery. “Use your common sense,” U.S. Attorney Amarjeet Bhachu said while wrapping up the government’s final rebuttal in the trial’s…
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CHICAGO – Before jury deliberations begin on the fate of four ex-Commonwealth Edison officials after a six-week bribery trial, an attorney for one of the defendants got emotional Monday afternoon when imparting the weight of the jury’s task. “Be the shield that you were meant to be,” Patrick Cotter told jurors after gathering himself. “The…
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A defense attorney for a longtime friend of former Illinois House Speaker Michael Madigan called on a federal jury Monday to “be the shield” between a private citizenand a “very powerful government committed, dedicated and on a mission to get Mike Madigan.” But federal prosecutors asked that same jury to reject the idea that a “stunning” stream…
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CHICAGO – After nearly six weeks, a federal jury has heard almost all the evidence in the bribery trial of three ex-lobbyists for electric utility Commonwealth Edison and its former CEO who are accused of bribing former Illinois House Speaker Michael Madigan. Prosecutors allege the four arranged for Madigan allies to get jobs and contracts…
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CHICAGO – When the former CEO of Commonwealth Edison was interviewed by federal prosecutors and agents in September 2019, she denied knowing the substance of the case the government was building against her and her colleagues. Specifically, Anne Pramaggiore said that until the feds’ investigation into ComEd became public four months prior, she was unaware…
Read Full Article CHICAGO – In May 2018, Commonwealth Edison CEO Anne Pramaggiore called the utility’s longtime top contract lobbyist, Mike McClain, with some news: she was about to be promoted to CEO of Exelon Utilities. In that role, she would oversee ComEd and five other utilities under the parent company’s umbrella. “Never would’ve happened without you and…
Read Full Article CHICAGO — Near the end of a long day of animated testimony Monday, former ComEd CEO Anne Pramaggiore’s voice grew quiet. The jury in the “ComEd Four” bribery trial had just heard for the second time a wiretapped recording on which she told a close associate of then-House Speaker Michael Madigan, “You take good care of me,…
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Muddy River News Crain's Chicago Business: A look at the ComEd Four trial Play Episode Pause Episode Mute/Unmute Episode Rewind 10 Seconds 1x Fast Forward 30 seconds 00:00 / 00:34:50 Subscribe Share Stitcher RSS Feed Share Link Embed Download file | Play in new window | Duration: 00:34:50 | Recorded on April 17, 2023Subscribe: StitcherCrain’s…
Read Full Article CHICAGO — Federal jurors have spent five weeks listening to the voice of former ComEd CEO Anne Pramaggiore, caught in a cache of secret FBI recordings in which prosecutors say she conspired with her colleagues to bribe then-Illinois House Speaker Michael Madigan. But late Thursday, the polished former energy executive and theater major finally got the chance to…
Read Full Article Anne Pramaggiore to take rare – and risky – step of defending herself to jury CHICAGO – Federal prosecutors on Wednesday rested their case against three ex-lobbyists and the former CEO of electric utility Commonwealth Edison in a trial where the four stand accused of orchestrating a yearslong bribery scheme to influence Illinois’ most powerful…
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A legendary precinct captain for former House Speaker Michael Madigan told jurors in the “ComEd Four” bribery trial Tuesday that the speaker got him a $45,000-a-year contract with one of the utility’s top lobbyists but made it clear the deal would disappear if he stopped working on campaigns. Edward Moody, for years one of Madigan’s…
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CHICAGO – Former Commonwealth Edison executive Fidel Marquez had been a government informant for less than a month when he had a meeting with longtime Illinois House Speaker Michael Madigan in mid-February 2019. The meeting was routine; Marquez, another executive and ComEd’s relatively new CEO met with Madigan at the beginning of the General Assembly’s…
Read Full Article QUINCY — ComEd and Exelon faced another round of serious negotiations over legislation in Springfield early in 2019, and former ComEd lobbyist Michael McClain had a problem. The longtime confidant ofthen-Illinois House Speaker Michael Madigan had already retired from his lobbying job, so Madigan asked who would serve as ComEd’s “lead” on the bill. McClain couldn’t…
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Club Muddy CLUB MUDDY PODCAST: The two sides of Mike McClain and of the Quincy School Board 'slates' Play Episode Pause Episode Mute/Unmute Episode Rewind 10 Seconds 1x Fast Forward 30 seconds 00:00 / 00:40:31 Subscribe Share RSS Feed Share Link Embed Download file | Play in new window | Duration: 00:40:31 | Recorded on…
Read Full Article Frankie, Bobby and Ashley return to their Crown Peach roots and talk politics while Bobby doesn’t let the Cardinals lack of pitching on Opening Day distract him.
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In intense courtroom moment, government’s star witness accused of saving his own skin CHICAGO – About an hour before sunrise on a mid-January morning in 2019, two FBI agents arrived at the home of Fidel Marquez’s mother, where the longtime executive of Commonwealth Edison had been staying. The agents played a series of recordings of…
Read Full Article CHICAGO — Michael McClain laughed inside Saputo’s restaurant in Springfield as he shared with then-ComEd executive Fidel Marquez his story about his 2016 retirement, and how he handed his list of duties over to Illinois House Speaker Michael Madigan. Madigan and McClain were longtime friends. McClain has described himself as an “agent” of Madigan. And after McClain…
Read Full Article CHICAGO — Longtime Commonwealth Edison contract lobbyist Jay Doherty thought he was merely reminiscing and giving advice to a colleague and friend in a February 2019 meeting set up by ex-ComEd executive Fidel Marquez. But Marquez was wearing a hidden camera, having just a few weeks prior agreed to cooperate with the government’s investigation of…
Read Full Article CHICAGO – Being the longtime friend of longtime Illinois House Speaker Michael Madigan granted Mike McClain certain privileges not afforded to other lobbyists in Springfield, jurors heard in a federal corruption trial that, in part, centers around the relationship between the two. McClain “had pretty free access” to the offices in Madigan’s suite on the…
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Jury hears 16 more recorded calls; Rep. says Madigan ruled ‘through fear and intimidation’ CHICAGO – Facing a perceived betrayal during a make-or-break election season in 2018, former Illinois House Speaker Michael Madigan called the person he often sought counsel from: longtime friend and confidant Mike McClain. Several Democratic candidates running for the state Senate…
Read Full Article CHICAGO — A veteran Democratic state lawmaker who sponsored major gaming legislation in the Illinois House of Representatives told a federal jury Monday that former Speaker Michael Madigan once ruled that chamber “through fear and intimidation.” When asked what Madigan valued most in other legislators, state Rep. Robert “Bob” Rita answered, “loyalty.” And before the…
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CHICAGO – Michael J. Madigan couldn’t be bothered to call one of his top deputies, who had decades of experience in the legislature, to tell him it was time to step down over a brewing allegation of misconduct that might go public. So the powerful Illinois House speaker got on the phone with his key…
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Trial’s second day included hours of opening arguments, first witness CHICAGO – Former Illinois House Speaker Michael Madigan isn’t set to go on trial for racketeering and corruption charges until next summer, but his decades of power in Illinois government and politics loomed large Wednesday as opening arguments got underway in a related case. Madigan’s name…
Read Full Article CHICAGO — For the first time since their indictment on corruption and bribery charges in November 2020, three former lobbyists and one former executive of electric utility Commonwealth Edison appeared at the Dirksen Federal Courthouse in Chicago on Tuesday – the first day of what’s expected to be a six-to-eight-week trial. It’s Illinois’ biggest public…
Read Full Article CHICAGO — Michael J. Madigan will likely never step foot in the federal courtroom where four former political power players are about to face trial, accused of trying to bribe the longtime Illinois House speaker to benefit ComEd. But the case starting Tuesday is all about Madigan. And once it’s underway, it is expected to…
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SPRINGFIELD — One year ago today, former House Speaker Michael Madigan – for decades the most powerful figure in Illinois politics – was indicted on 22 counts of racketeering, bribery, wire fraud and extortion. The anniversary comes roughly two years after Madigan’s fellow Democrats forced him to cede the title of longest-serving speaker of any legislature in…
Read Full Article SPRINGFIELD – The federal case against former Illinois House Speaker Michael Madigan widened Friday after new charges were filed against him and his longtime ally, Michael McClain, alleging they conspired to accept a bribe from AT&T Illinois in exchange for favorable legislation. Prosecutors also announced that the company had admitted to using interstate commerce to facilitate passage…
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The racketeering case against former Illinois House Speaker Michael Madigan and his longtime confidant will likely not see any significant court action until next year after a judge Tuesday granted the defense a lengthy extension to review the massive pile of evidence turned over by prosecutors. In the first status hearing in the bombshell case…
Read Full Article CHICAGO — The trial of four people accused of trying to bribe then-Illinois House Speaker Michael Madigan has been rescheduled for March 6. Charged in the case are longtime Madigan confidant Michael McClain, former ComEd CEO Anne Pramaggiore, ex-top ComEd lobbyist John Hooker and former City Club President Jay Doherty. The four are accused of…
Read Full Article A newly unsealed search warrant in the ComEd bribery probe centered on former House Speaker Michael Madigan provides the greatest detail yet about an alleged behind-the-scenes effort to kill an energy bill supported by Madigan’s daughter, the then-Illinois attorney general. “We got — we’ve gotta kill it. Period,” Madigan’s longtime confidant, Michael McClain, allegedly told…
Read Full Article Former Illinois House Speaker Michael Madigan was recorded on a wiretapped phone call in 2018 discussing with lobbyist confidant Michael McClain a plan to arrange secret payments to a close political ally who had been implicated in a sexual harassment scandal, newly released court documents show. Madigan has always denied any involvement in the scheme…
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QUINCY — J. Robert Gough talks with Chicago Tribune reporter Ray Long, who penned the book “The House That Madigan Built”, which chronicles the rise and fall of the longest tenured statehouse speaker in U.S. History. Long also discusses the involvement of long-time Madigan consigliere Mike McClain, the retired lobbyist and lawmaker from Quincy, who…
Read Full Article SPRINGFIELD – Former Illinois House Speaker Michael Madigan and former lobbyist Michael McClain on Wednesday pleaded not guilty in federal court to charges of racketeering, bribery, fraud and extortion. Both were arraigned on those charges during a teleconference hearing before U.S. District Judge Jeffrey Cole, a hearing that was prolonged several minutes because McClain had…
Read Full Article CHICAGO — One week after he was charged in a 22-count federal indictment that included racketeering, for Illinois House Speaker Michael J. Madigan is scheduled to be arraigned in a hearing to be conducted by phone at 1:30 p.m. today at the Everett M. Dirksen U.S. Federal Courthouse in Chicago’s Loop. Madigan, 79, faces allegations…
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SPRINGFIELD — In a 106-page, 22-count indictment, federal prosecutors painted a picture of former House Speaker Michael Madigan as the leader, along with a longtime confidante, of a sweeping criminal enterprise that influenced legislation for personal power and financial gain. “The Madigan Enterprise,” as prosecutors called it in the document filed Wednesday, benefitted from Madigan’s…
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Indictment: Used position as speaker, Democratic Party chair for personal gain UPDATED SPRINGFIELD – Longtime Illinois House Speaker Michael Madigan has been indicted by a federal grand jury on 22 counts for allegedly using his position as the top House Democrat to solicit “personal financial rewards” for himself and others, according to the U.S. Attorney’s…
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Mike McClain and Abraham Lincoln both served in the Illinois Legislature. Not together, of course. Chicago Tribune reporters Jason Meisner and Ray Long shared an interesting tidbit from the criminal defense of McClain, the “retired” Quincy lawyer/lobbyist/insider and consigliere to former Illinois House Speaker Michael Madigan. Muddy River News linked to it Monday, and it…
Read Full Article It’s the biggest federal corruption investigation in years, but the most remarkable thing about the Commonwealth Edison bribery probe in 2021 might be what didn’t happen. The year began with pressure mounting on Michael Madigan, the then-powerful House speaker whose ironclad grip on the General Assembly was slipping after being exposed the previous summer as…
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Nearly two years ago, a WBEZ open-records request to Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker’s office set off alarm bells in Springfield. The governor’s office released a 2012 email exchange between now-indicted former Commonwealth Edison lobbyist Michael McClain and two top aides to then-Gov. Pat Quinn. McClain was seeking leniency for a former state employee, Forrest Ashby,…
Read Full Article Federal prosecutors argued Monday that a bid from four members of ex-House Speaker Michael Madigan’s inner circle to convince a judge to toss part of the indictment filed against them ignores the alleged corruption at the heart of the case. “The illegal conduct alleged in the indictment did not consist merely of lobbying, and it…
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Four members of former House Speaker Michael Madigan’s inner circle could face trial late in 2022 for their alleged roles in the ComEd bribery scandal. What’s still not clear is whether new allegations might surface in the case by then. U.S. District Judge Harry Leinenweber on Tuesday scheduled a Sept. 12, 2022, trial for Madigan…
Read Full Article From The CHICAGO SUN-TIMES – Members of former House Speaker Michael Madigan’s inner circle argued Tuesday that their indictment in the ComEd bribery scandal suffers from a series of “fatal” gaps — including the lack of a clear quid pro quo. Lawyers for Madigan confidant Michael McClain, former ComEd CEO Anne Pramaggiore, onetime ComEd lobbyist John…
Read Full Article From Chicago Tribune – The 11-page indictment alleged Tim Mapes repeatedly lied during a March 31 appearance before the grand jury when asked about Madigan’s relationship with his longtime confidant Michael McClain of Quincy, who was charged in November with orchestrating the ComEd bribery scheme. He also lied when he said he had no knowledge…
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