Armed with a U.S. Supreme Court decision that scaled back a key federal bribery statute, lawyers for ex-House Speaker Michael Madigan argued in a new filing Monday that 14 counts of the indictment are “fatally infirm” and should be dismissed, in part because there is no proof that the once powerful Democratic leader agreed to use his official position for personal gain.
The 73-page filing largely mirrors the defense’s motion to dismiss in February 2023, which had yet to be ruled on by U.S. District Judge John Robert Blakey. Instead, the judge ordered the parties to renew their submissions in light of the Supreme Court’s decision last month in the case of former Portage, Indiana Mayor James Snyder.
The filing Monday includes dozens of citations to the Snyder ruling, which says the federal bribery statute commonly known as 666 after its number in the federal criminal code does not criminalize “gratuities,” gifts given to elected officials to express thanks for taking a favorable action.
“The impact of Snyder on this case cannot be questioned,” the filing stated. “The Supreme Court clearly and definitively held that the statute applies only to bribes, not gratuities, and that bribery ‘requires that the official have a corrupt state of mind and accept (or agree to accept) the payment intending to be influenced in the official act.’ In other words, the government must establish a quid pro quo.”
Madigan’s attorneys argued that in their “highly publicized, lengthy speaking indictment,” prosecutors failed to allege facts “that would support the notion that Madigan acted corruptly or agreed to, or intended to agree to, a quid pro quo.”
The U.S. attorney’s office is expected to file its own arguments about the Snyder case later Monday.
In reaching their decision last month, the Supreme Court justices sided 6-3 with Snyder, who argued to the nation’s highest court that the anti-corruption law under which he was convicted is vague and could potentially criminalize innocent, everyday conduct. The decision vacated Snyder’s conviction for taking a $13,000 “consulting” fee from a garbage truck dealer that had recently won two lucrative contracts with the town.
Madigan, 82, who gave up his legislative seat when toppled from the speakership in 2021, faces charges alleging he ran his state and political operations like a criminal enterprise while utility giants ComEd and AT&T put his cronies on contracts requiring little or no work.
ComEd allegedly also heaped legal work onto a Madigan ally, granted his request to put a political associate on the state-regulated utility’s board and distributed bundles of summer internships to college students living in his Southwest Side legislative district.
Madigan and co-defendant Michael McClain, a former ComEd lobbyist, have denied wrongdoing.
Blakey has emphasized repeatedly that even though the Supreme Court threw a wrench into the Madigan case, the judge wants to keep matters on track for its scheduled Oct. 8 trial date. Earlier this month, prosecutors said they do not intend to seek a superseding indictment against Madigan, and neither side wants to delay the trial.
Meanwhile, the Supreme Court’s decision has already reverberated significantly in Chicago, where federal prosecutors have used the 666 statute for years to bring political corruption indictments, including against Madigan. As many as five of the 23 overall counts facing Madigan were considered similar to those the high court undercut.
The Snyder decision was the latest in a string of Supreme Court cases curtailing what the court has seen as overly broad federal anti-corruption statutes. The ruling drew criticism from proponents of good government who worried the sweeping ruling would loosen the guardrails in a city and state where corrupt public officials have marched steadily to federal prison.
Madigan, who led the state Democratic Party for more than two decades and served a record 36 years as the leader of the House, was charged in March 2022 with participating in an array of bribery and extortion schemes from 2011 to 2019 aimed at using the power of his public office for personal and political gain.
McClain is a former state legislator, became a longtime Madigan confidant and worked as a lobbyist for several clients, including utility giant Commonwealth Edison. McClain was convicted last year of orchestrating an alleged bribery scheme by ComEd as part of the “ComEd Four” case. That same alleged scheme forms the backbone of the pending case against Madigan and McClain.
McClain and three others were found guilty in the ComEd Four case, which also could be significantly upended thanks to the Supreme Court’s decision on 666.
The defendants have not yet been sentenced; it appears likely that the matter will remain in limbo until after Madigan and McClain’s separate trial. In a brief hearing last week, defense attorneys said they intend to ask that the ComEd Four convictions be thrown out entirely. Briefing on the matter is expected to last until at least mid-November, when Madigan’s trial will be well underway.
In their filing Monday, Madigan’s legal team took a shot at the prosecution team, led by Assistant U.S. Attorney Amarjeet Bhachu, noting that their interpretation of the 666 statute has been decimated by the high court and saying they “undoubtedly charged this case and tried the related ComEd case based on its mistaken views.”
What’s more, several counts in the indictment allege ComEd hired people as a favor to Madigan weeks or years after the House voted on key legislation regarding the utility. That could only be a show of thanks from ComEd to Madigan after the fact — the exact kind of conduct the Supreme Court decided is legal, Madigan’s attorneys wrote.
“These counts were gratuities, and any suggestion to the contrary is hogwash,” the filing states. “Their dismissal in light of Snyder is required.”
Among counts pending against Madigan that involved the 666 statute was a pivotal conversation from August 2018 when Madigan met in his downtown Chicago law office with then-Ald. Daniel Solis, 25th, to discuss Solis’ appointment to a lucrative state board position.
Solis, who unbeknown to Madigan was an FBI mole, made it clear he had helped bring law business to Madigan and wanted something in return once he retired from City Hall, perhaps a position with the Commerce Commission or Labor Relations Board, which Solis said were both “very generous in their compensation,” according to federal prosecutors.
“Don’t worry about it,” Madigan allegedly said during the conversation, which was secretly being videotaped by Solis. “Just leave it in my hands.”
In addition to the Solis board appointment, the statute was used to charge an alleged scheme to steer a ComEd board seat to Democratic political operative Juan Ochoa, payments ComEd made to former 13th Ward Ald. Frank Olivo, former 23rd Ward Ald. Michael Zalewski and others, and an alleged push by Madigan to win law business from the developers of a parcel in Chinatown.
Both ComEd and AT&T have entered into deferred prosecution agreements with the U.S. attorney’s office in which they have acknowledged culpability. ComEd agreed to a $200 million fine and AT&T agreed to a $23 million fine. The government agreed to drop pending charges of bribery against both companies once their cooperation is complete.
jmeisner@chicagotribune.com
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