* If this is “illegal,” then almost every politician in Illinois is going to prison.

The Sun-Times reports on yesterday’s House Mass Transit Committee hearings on the Metra weirdness…

Early in the nearly six-hour hearing, Joseph Gagliardo, the rail agency’s lawyer, told state Rep. Deb Mell (D-Chicago) and her fellow panel members about the request from Madigan’s office ­— a request the lawyer insisted was not political.

“Elected officials don’t lose their First Amendment rights to talk to people,” Gagliardo testified.

“Speaker Madigan inquired about a raise for an employee. It’s not inappropriate for an elected official to inquire about a wage increase for somebody. It’s not based on politics,” Gagliardo said.

Earlier this week, Metra Chairman Brad O’Halloran said [ex-CEO Alex Clifford] and his attorney had argued that if Clifford’s contract was not renewed, it would be in retaliation for Clifford reporting “alleged illegal conduct” to the Metra Board — supposedly political pressure involving hiring and contract awards. Before his exit, Clifford initially threatened a “whistleblower lawsuit” and was asking for more than the $718,000 package he got.

In a prepared statement released Thursday, Madigan said only that his office recommended Metra bosses give employee Patrick Ward a raise.

Madigan, who praised Ward’s academic and professional career in the statement, said he and Ward have worked together “on a variety of projects” over the past 15 years; his statement didn’t elaborate on those projects.

The discussion about the raise began with Ward contacting Madigan’s office in roughly March 2012, according to Madigan’s statement.

Ward, a Metra labor relations specialist since 2008, notified Madigan’s office that “in spite of being asked to assume expanded tasks with additional responsibilities in his position, his $57,000 salary had not increased in more than three years,” Madigan’s statement said,

“Given the information presented to my office, we forwarded a recommendation to Metra senior staff that Mr. Ward be considered for a salary adjustment. My office’s recommendation supplemented an endorsement which I understand he received from his supervisor, who concluded Mr. Ward was underpaid and that his job performance and education warranted a salary adjustment. ”

But Clifford ultimately rejected the recommendation, Madigan said. The House Speaker said he then withdrew his recommendation for the raise.

Ward is a 13th Ward guy. He asked for help and a letter was sent, then withdrawn. Ward eventually resigned.

* If anybody can tell me what the alleged crime is here, I’m all ears.

Yes, Madigan is powerful, but was Metra retaliated against for not giving his guy a raise? Nobody has once made that claim. And even if Madigan did retaliate, it’d be wrong, but likely not illegal.

I mean, seriously, writing a letter for a political supporter is now supposed to be some sort of scandal? Are you kidding me?

* Also, Rep. Mell still blames MJM for the failure of gay marriage and is Rod Blagojevich’s sister-in-law, so assigning that committee to the task of probing the Metra deal was an interesting move by the Speaker, since he undoubtedly knew his name would come up. Rep. Jack Franks had grabbed some headlines, but his committee wasn’t involved yesterday.

* Speaking of the Mell family, it appears that Rod Blagovjevich may have been right after all…

A felon convicted of bribing a public official says he and Ald. Richard Mell (33rd) were silent partners in the Joliet landfill that spurred a nasty family feud with Mell’s son-in-law, then-Gov. Rod Blagojevich, according to allegations in a lawsuit obtained by the Chicago Sun-Times.

Mell has long denied having any financial interest in the landfill, which sold for $17.7 million in 2008. But the lawsuit filed by Robert Pruim Sr. and his son, Robert Jr., in Will County Circuit Court, accuses the powerful alderman of helping create the business, taking a one-third ownership stake and then conspiring to defraud the Pruims out of nearly $3.7 million when the sale occurred. […]

The lawsuit claims Mell held meetings about the landfill deal in his aldermanic office and used his political connections to help a now-imprisoned distant relative, Frank Schmidt, become the face of the landfill business.

Because the landfill could accept construction debris from state construction projects, “neither Pruim Sr. (prior felony conviction for bribery) nor Mell (political figure and father-in-law of the governor) could be listed as ‘stated’ owners,” the court papers say. […]

Federal court documents show that Schmidt had more than $9 million in income in 2008 — the year of the sale. That same year, Mell reported a capital gain in excess of $5,000 from an “investment in F. Schmidt Corp.” on his aldermanic financial disclosure form. […]

Mell has long denied having any financial interest in the landfill deal, which was the genesis of a public dispute with the now-imprisoned Blagojevich. Blagojevich temporarily shut down the landfill in 2005, accusing Schmidt of accepting illegal waste and of promoting his ties to Mell as a way to get business.

An infuriated Mell lashed out, telling the Chicago Sun-Times at the time that a key Blagojevich adviser — the late Christopher G. Kelly — had been trading plum state government appointments for $50,000 campaign contributions. Mell later publicly apologized after Kelly threatened legal action.

Blagojevich was concerned that Mell had a hidden financial interest in the landfill. As governor, he launched a legislative assault on the landfill industry and pushed legislation that would specifically ban relatives of the governor from having any financial stake in landfills or receiving any “personal financial benefit” from waste-disposal operators.