* Center Square…

Prosecutors on Monday took the jury in the corruption trial of former Illinois House Speaker Michael Madigan through nearly a decade of payments to subcontractors who they allege did little or no work for the state’s largest utility despite getting paid.

Jurors watched as Madigan associate Jay Doherty’s lobbying contract with Illinois electric utility Commonwealth Edison grew from $200,000 a year to more than $400,000 a year as he added subcontractors – without explanation – to his longstanding lobbying contract with ComEd.

Prosecutors allege that Madigan ordered ComEd to hire his political operatives for no-show jobs in exchange for passing legislation in Springfield that was favorable to the utility.

With Doherty’s longtime administrative assistant Janet Gallegos on the witness stand, prosecutors detailed month by month invoices that Doherty sent to ComEd, lobbying registration for the subcontractors and other details.

* Capitol News Illinois…

The arrangement began with former Chicago Ald. Frank Olivo in 2011 and grew to include top precinct captains Raymond Nice and Ed Moody from Madigan’s 13th Ward power base on Chicago’s Southwest Side. Later, former state Rep. Eddie Acevedo and former Chicago Ald. Michael Zalewski would also get in on the deal.

ComEd indirectly paid out more than $1.3 million to the men over the eight years, payments that prosecutors allege were meant to bribe Madigan in exchange for favorable legislation in Springfield. The names on McClain’s yellow legal pad list indicate it was written soon after his retirement in December 2016 before Acevedo was added to the mix. […]

The jury last week and Monday heard from FBI agents who searched Doherty’s downtown Chicago office and his home in a swanky condo in the affluent Streeterville neighborhood. Neither search turned up any evidence of work product put together by the subcontractors for ComEd, and Doherty’s former administrative assistant Janet Gallegos testified Monday that she was unaware of any work the subcontractors did for her boss.

But the agents did recover documents that indicated just how little the subcontractors spoke to the man whose name was on their checks. Olivo, the former alderman who’d been put under Doherty’s contract shortly after his retirement from city council in 2011, would usually write a little note to Gallegos on a fax cover sheet when he sent his $4,000 invoice each month. In two of the notes from 2013 and 2015, Olivo wrote “say hello to Jay.”

* ABC Chicago…

“What did you talk about with Mr. Olivo?” Assistant U.S Attorney Sarah Streicker asked, in reference to subcontractor and former 13th Ward Alderman Olivo.

“We talked about invoices being received, payments and also family,” Gallegos said.

“Did you ever talk to him about any work he was doing?” Streicker asked.

Gallegos said, “no.”

* Sun-Times…

On Monday, prosecutors called several FBI agents to the stand. Among them was Edward McNamara, who told jurors about a May 2019 search of McClain’s home in Quincy.

The panel got a glimpse of McClain’s basement office, including the exposed insulation in the walls and a row of at least 10 filing cabinets. That’s where agents recovered printed-off copies of McClain’s emails seeking internships and jobs for people allegedly tied to Madigan.

In two tote bags found in McClain’s Toyota Avalon, McNamara said agents found a handwritten note that included the words “Speaker” and “Available 24/7.”

Agents also found McClain’s well-known list of Madigan allies, written on stationary from the Talbott Hotel.

Also figuring in McClain’s earlier trial, it’s known as his ‘magic list.’

* Tribune…

Among the five pages was a printed email from McClain, one of Madigan’s closest confidants, describing the pages as a “Magic Lobbyist List” and using his favorite euphemism of “Friend” to refer to the speaker. The recipients of the email had been blind-copied, hiding their names.

“So since I don’t roam the halls like I use to do I do not have the same ‘on site’ engagement that I use to have,” read the email, which was shown to jurors Monday in the corruption trial of Madigan and McClain. “A Friend of ours and myself have gone through the ‘magic list’ and frankly culled quite a few names …There are now a little less than two dozen on the list.”

McClain went on to ask the recipient of the email for help fishing for potential clients.

“If you have a potential client come up to you and seek you as a lobbyist but you cannot for whatever reason please engage him/her and try to get him or her to consider a recommendation from you,” McClain wrote. “Please call me then and I will have a conversation with someone and get back to you asap.”