The splashy corruption trial insiders fear may not yield a drop

Then-Illinois House Minority Leader Jim Durkin addresses the Special Investigating Committee II regarding then-House Speaker Michael Madigan's role in a bribery scandal involving Commonwealth Edison on Sept. 10, 2020. | Ted Schurter/The State Journal-Register via AP

One element that’s drawing people into the case is the audio. The former House speaker famously didn’t have a cell phone or use email, so trial observers were particularly stunned to hear Madigan and his close aide, Mike McClain, on secret phone recordings. “I was never involved in any criminal activity. The government is attempting to criminalize a routine constituent service: Job recommendations,” Madigan has said in a statement about the federal investigations. “That is not illegal, and these other charges are equally unfounded. … I adamantly deny these accusations and look back proudly on my time as an elected official, serving the people of Illinois.

“When the indictments came out, there was a flurry of talk about reforms. But nothing has been done,” Ferguson said in an interview. “It means when the legislature meets again, the trial will be a distant memory.”

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