Sitting legislator testifies at corruption trial of former Illinois House Speaker
(The Center Square) – Illinois State Rep. Bob Rita, D-Blue Island, is expected to return to the witness stand Monday at the bribery and racketeering trial of former Illinois House Speaker Michael Madigan, D-Chicago.
Rita began testifying late Thursday afternoon and stated that he had served on a number of Illinois House committees.
Rita also took the stand during the ComEd Four trial last year, when Madigan co-defendant Michael McClain and three others were convicted of conspiracy, bribery and willfully falsifying records.
Rita recalled McClain pulling him out of a committee hearing to direct him to proceed with an amendment to the Future Energy Jobs Act, or FEJA, even though Rita was unfamiliar with the amendment. Rita said he did as he was told and the amendment was adopted.
On Wednesday, ComEd executive Scott Vogt offered testimony at the Madigan trial about how FEJA benefited the utility company. Vogt told the court about a party attended by Madigan, McClain and top ComEd executives after the General Assembly passed FEJA in 2016.
U.S. government prosecutors played a series of recordings in the Madigan trial Thursday, many of which were also played in the ComEd case. During one call, Madigan and McClain discussed what to do about then-Senate President John Cullerton, D-Chicago, and anti-Madigan ads from fellow Democratic state senators.
“You’re a street fighter. I know you got a law degree, but you’re more of a street fighter than anybody knows, except for maybe guys like me, and if you want to put the squeeze on the guy, you could hurt him pretty badly,” McClain said on the recording.
“Yeah. All right. I’ll think about it,” Madigan replied.
State Rep. Kelly Cassidy, D-Chicago, said she was forced to resign from the Cook County Sheriff’s Office in 2018 after she called for an investigation of sexual harassment allegations against a Madigan aide.
“Each of these things were in the immediate aftermath of me speaking up, pointing out problems within his administration,” Cassidy told The Center Square.
Cassidy referred to Rita, who has served in the statehouse since 2003, as one of the Madigan allies who retaliated against her when she stood up to Madigan.
Three former state representatives testified before Rita during the Madigan trial: Carol Sente, D-Vernon Hills, Scott Drury, D-Highwood, and Lou Lang, D-Skokie.
On Thursday, prosecutors played recordings of Madigan and McClain talking about pushing Lang to resign and of McClain telling Lang he should consider a different career.
Taraleigh Davis, assistant professor of Public Law and Political Science at Bradley University, said prosecutors have a lot of material.
“The prosecution is really tipping their hand with how much information they have. They have emails, phone calls from different cell phones of different conversations between the Madigan enterprise with evidence,” Davis told The Center Square.
Judge John Robert Blakey is presiding over the case at the Everett McKinley Dirksen U.S. Courthouse in Chicago. The trial is scheduled to resume Monday morning.
Greg Bishop contributed to this story.
