* Jon Seidel tells us about recorded phone conversations played during the Tim Mapes trial yesterday…
“I don’t recall any at all,” Mapes told the grand jury. “Any dialogue.”
That’s gonna leave a mark.
* Also this from Hannah Meisel…
Mapes was also asked whether he knew of anyone close to Madigan who was on friendly terms with John Hooker, a lobbyist for ComEd.
“I don’t recall any today,” Mapes said.
You’ve gotta be kidding me. Mike McClain and Hooker were practically inseparable.
* Megan Crepeau and Ray Long at the Tribune…
Mapes even played down Madigan’s longtime admiration of Mayor Richard J. Daley, someone Madigan often spoke about with reverence.
“I think he had a respect for him,” Mapes said. “I don’t know about esteem.”
Mapes said he remembered Madigan saying Richard J. Daley “was a good politician” but testified that Madigan didn’t say why he thought that.
For crying out loud, Madigan had photos of the old man in his office as well as the prayer card from Daley’s funeral mass. When Madigan was named grand marshal of the St. Patrick’s Day parade, he had an exact replica of a hat Richard J. wore when he was grand marshal. Daley practically made Madigan part of the family after Madigan’s dad passed away. Mapes isn’t accused of perjuring himself on that answer, but sheeeeeeeesh.
Also this…
“(McClain) was one of my fr– sorry strike that,” Mapes said, apparently stopping short of calling McClain a friend. “He was a member of the legislature before I started. … And then he was also a member of the leadership before he lost his election.”
I think now we’re seeing why the feds were so irked with Mapes’ grand jury testimony.
* To the Sun-Times story…
Facing one of the most serious threats to the power held by then-Illinois House Speaker Michael Madigan in 2018, his longtime friend and confidant decided it was time to “play hardball and quit doing this nicey/nicey stuff.”
One week earlier, political consultant Alaina Hampton had held a news conference to outline sexual harassment complaints against Kevin Quinn, a top political aide to Madigan. Her claims shook Madigan’s grip on power at the Capitol and created serious concern within his inner-circle, a federal jury heard Tuesday.
So Michael McClain sent a fiery email Feb. 21, 2018. In it, he suggested Madigan’s team go nuclear against their opponents and pitch scandalous stories about an open marriage and other Springfield dirt to “over worked, under payed” news reporters.
“We cannot lose him,” McClain wrote of Madigan. “We cannot give Illinois to these guys. So, we have to play sort of by their rules.”
Madigan’s longtime chief of staff, Tim Mapes, was among the recipients of McClain’s email. A former Madigan aide also testified Tuesday that Mapes was among those trying to insulate the speaker.
But despite apparently being looped in on McClain’s bid to save Madigan in 2018, Mapes later told a grand jury he didn’t remember McClain doing any tasks or assignments for Madigan at that time.
*Hard sigh*
* Hannah Meisel has more on the effort to save Madigan. As you may recall, Madigan created the Anti-Harassment, Equality and Access Panel through the Democratic Party of Illinois and appointed three members: US Rep. Cheri Bustos, Comptroller Susana Mendoza and state Rep. Carol Ammons. They immediately declared independence and refused to take any money from Madigan’s party apparatus. And when Bustos backed out, the others appointed Sen. Melinda Bush, who was a noted Madigan critic…
“I had wanted to talk this afternoon about well, what do we do with this panel?” Madigan said on a conference call with five close advisors, including Mapes and McClain. “What do we do with it? Do we do anything with it? Do we just let it go and go and go?”
Later in the call, longtime Madigan spokesman Steve Brown warned the media would pick up on any clues that the speaker was interfering with the panel’s work, and the sexual harassment allegations against Madigan’s organization would be rehashed.
“I’m trying to get my head around the idea that some other entity crops up and it’s not portrayed as an effort to supplant, derail whatever Mendoza’s supposed to be doing,” Brown said.
Good on Brown.
…Adding… Oof…
