(The Center Square) – U.S. Rep. Nikki Budzinski of Illinois is expected to testify Monday at the public corruption trial of former Illinois House Speaker Michael Madigan and codefendant Michael McClain.
Budzinski, D-Springfield, has represented Illinois’ 13th congressional district since 2023. The Democrat incumbent won her reelection against Republican Joshua Loyd last month.
Prior to being elected to Congress, Budzinski was a special assistant to Gov. J.B. Pritzker and worked as a member of his transition team when he was governor-elect in late 2018 and 2019.
Last week, U.S. government attorney Sarah Streicker introduced emails from former Madigan chief of staff Jessica Basham to Budzinski and Anne Caprara, who was Pritzker’s campaign manager and future chief of staff, with personnel recommendations for the governor-elect’s administration and transition team. Basham said she prepared the emails as directed by Madigan.
Prosecutors say they worked with Budzinski to schedule around possible congressional votes in Washington. The congresswoman is expected to follow lobbyist Nancy Kimme to the witness stand.
McClain brought Kimme into negotiations to arrange a transfer of state-owned land in Chicago’s Chinatown neighborhood to the city’s government for a development project. The “Chinatown parcel” is located along Cermak and Wentworth avenues in the city’s 25th Ward, which was represented by then-Alderman Daniel Solis.
On Thursday, government attorney Julia Schwartz played a May 16, 2018, recording of a conversation between McClain and Kimme. During the call, Kimme told McClain she was surprised to learn that state Rep. Theresa Mah, D-Chicago, was not in favor of the Solis-supported Chinatown development proposal.
“Essentially, she’s like, ‘This is a scam cooked up by Danny Solis. You know, people in my district don’t like him,'” Kimme said.
Kimme said Mah expressed concerns about gentrifying Chinatown and told her the people didn’t want the development.
“I told her, ‘you wouldn’t be doing that. You’d just be giving the land to the city and then the city has a process.’ And she goes, ‘He’s the head of the zoning committee and it’s all greased for him. Don’t kid yourself.’” Kimme said on the recording.
Earlier in the trial, prosecutors played recordings of Madigan and McClain discussing the project with Solis and real-estate developers. Several of the conversations were secretly recorded by Solis in cooperation with federal investigators.
The Chinatown land transfer remained under discussion until the end of the 2018 legislative session. Then-state Rep. Avery Bourne, R-Morrisonville, added the parcel as an amendment to a bill she was sponsoring, but Kimme said it ended up in “the dust heap.”
Jurors also heard recordings of conversations involving political deals about Illinois State Toll Highway Board positions.
In a call recorded on Dec. 4, 2018, McClain asked Madigan about a meeting.
“I think it went well. You know, I put the knife into Cullerton three or four times,” Madigan answered, referring to then-Illinois Senate President John Cullerton, D-Chicago.
“Good,” McClain said.
“As he deserves, but that’s one of the reasons I’m calling you. Apparently in the summer, Cullerton was telling J.B. that he should keep Schillerstrom at the toll road,” Madigan said.
Telephone conversation between Michael Madigan and Michael McClain DATE: December 4, 2018
Former DuPage County Board Chairman Bob Schillerstrom had served on the tollway board since 2015, but Madigan told McClain that Governor-elect J.B. Pritzker said, “Schillerstrom’s got to go.”
“We could run a bill to wipe out the toll road,” Madigan suggested.
“Right,” McClain responded.
“So I put that idea in his head. And I said, when you run the bill to wipe out the board members, you can wipe out Schillerstrom, too,” Madigan said.
The General Assembly passed a measure to end board members’ terms, and Schillerstrom resigned the next month.
Madigan and McClain are charged with 23 counts of bribery, racketeering and official misconduct in connection with a scheme federal prosecutors referred to as the 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.
Attorneys in the case said they intend to finish court proceedings by 10:30 a.m. Monday. Judge John Robert Blakey had planned for an early release for jurors Monday afternoon, but he also indicated that he might be able to attend the funeral of Judge Joel Flaum of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit. Blakey added that he had to do his job even if it prevented him from attending.
Prosecutors and defense attorneys suggested that they expected Kimme’s testimony to finish quickly and that Budzinski’s testimony would be brief.
Judge Flaum passed away last Wednesday at the age of 88. Flaum was appointed to the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois in 1974 and served in the district until 1983, when he was elevated to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit. He served as chief judge of the Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals from 2000 to 2006.
