Crime and Public Safety |

State representative takes witness stand at perjury trial of Madigan ‘gatekeeper’ Tim Mapes

During ex-Illinois House Speaker Michael Madigan’s long reign, his chief of staff Tim Mapes placed in his office a pointed piece of artwork.

The sign, as observers recalled, featured a quote from the classic film “The Wizard of Oz,” reading: “Nobody gets in to see the wizard. Not nobody, not no how.”

“Who in the analogy did you understand the wizard to be?” a federal prosecutor asked Rep. Bob Rita, who testified in Mapes’ perjury trial Thursday.

“Madigan,” Rita answered.

Rita, D-Blue Island, was on the witness stand Thursday for the second time this year in one of the sweeping federal cases tied to Madigan and his Democratic allies.

Mapes is charged with lying to a grand jury in an attempt to thwart the investigation into alleged wrongdoing by Madigan and his longtime friend, powerhouse lobbyist Michael McClain.

When questioned under oath in 2021, Mapes said he couldn’t remember anything substantive about Madigan and McClain’s relationship. His defense asserts that he honestly could not recall certain matters, and that having a hazy memory is not a crime.

Asked on Thursday to describe the former power structure at the top of the Illinois House, Rita drew a triangle in the air above him.

At the highest point, he said, was Madigan. Then, moving his hands to the lower corners of the triangle, on either side were Mapes – the gatekeeper – and Madigan’s confidant, McClain.

Rita testified in a thick Chicago accent and frequently sipped water. He often turned his head to cough. At one point, he said he was carrying Jolly Rancher candies with him.

McClain has already been convicted in the “ComEd Four” trial, which also featured Rita as a witness. Madigan and McClain both await trial in a separate racketeering case. They have pleaded not guilty.

Tying the three men together — Mapes, Madigan and McClain — is key to prosecutors’ claim that it was completely implausible for Mapes not to have known about Madigan and McClain’s actions. Rita even showed jurors on a blueprint of the speaker’s suite how McClain often sat by himself working in a conference room situated between the offices of Madigan and Mapes.

While Mapes held meetings next to the Wizard of Oz sign or gave orders on the House floor, McClain, a longtime lobbyist, was often seated on a bench outside the speaker’s offices, Rita said. Jurors were shown a Tribune photo of McClain holding court from the bench facing the Capitol rotunda as he looked up at three other lobbyists standing nearby.

Mapes derived significant power from his proximity to Madigan, and he wielded it assertively, Rita said.

“He ran a tight ship,” Rita said, with a frown on his face and a slight waver in his voice. “He ran the House, he kept the trains on time, he kept a lot of moving parts moving.”

Rita took the stand after receiving a letter from federal prosecutors confirming he was not a target of the investigation, he testified.

While Rita’s testimony was detailed about the goings on in Springfield, it was not as vivid as his under-oath statements during the ComEd Four trial, when he said Madigan ruled his caucus “through fear and intimidation.”

Jurors on Thursday heard the first of what is expected to be many recordings of wiretapped phone conversations.

Prosecutors played audio of a May 2018 conversation between Rita and McClain discussing gambling legislation.

“What’s our next move?” Rita asked McClain, kicking off a casual conversation. Twice, McClain tells Rita he will have to check with Mapes on how to go forward.

Listen to the audio

https://embed.documentcloud.org/documents/23907393-telephone-conversation-between-michael-mcclain-and-bob-rita/?embed=1&responsive=1&title=1

Even after Mapes was ousted in June 2018 over a #MeToo scandal, he still showed an awareness of what was happening in Springfield, and his attention to detail was sharp, Rita said.

While on the stand, Rita also described how Madigan told Rita in 2013 that Rita would be taking over sponsorship of sweeping gambling expansion legislation.

Rita said Madigan “indicated” he had a conflict of interest with the legislation, a concern that generally prompts lawmakers to steer clear of such a bill. The nature of the conflict was not disclosed in court.

Shortly after Madigan informed Rita of his new responsibility, Rita testified, McClain appeared outside the speaker’s Capitol office door.

“As I was walking out of the office,” Rita said, “Mike McClain was standing there. He (Madigan) indicated that Mike McClain would assist me and guide me.”

Gambling legislation, particularly one that included a new casino in Chicago and elsewhere around the state, was one of the thorniest matters to navigate in Springfield because there are so many different special interests seeking input, including horse racing and established riverboats.

Rita said McClain was made available “so I would be guided in the right direction.”

Assistant U.S. Attorney Julia Schwartz immediately asked: The “right direction” according to whom?

“The speaker,” Rita replied, an answer that signaled Madigan could have influence over the legislation despite his potential conflict of interest.

Prosecutors underscored that point when they asked Rita about McClain seeking to add a last minute amendment to far-reaching utility legislation when it passed Dec. 1, 2016.

McClain, who was a ComEd lobbyist, had by that time established a rapport with Rita because they had worked closely for nearly three years on gambling legislation.

Rita, the utility bill’s sponsor, was initially opposed to the late amendment when it popped up in a committee hearing because he was unaware it was coming and did not know how it would affect the overall bill.

But Rita testified he dropped his opposition when McClain “talked to me when the hearing was going on” and gave assurances that the amendment “would be OK,” that Rita could move to adopt it.

“Mike McClain wouldn’t give me advice that would be adverse to what the speaker would want,” Rita said, providing another glimpse of Madigan’s potential influence over legislation even when his fingerprints are not directly on it.

In fact, Madigan was recorded as “not voting” on the final roll call when the overall bill passed.

Also Thursday, prosecutors called witnesses to familiarize jurors with the grand jury process, taking them through the procedures in fine-grain detail.

Former high-ranking federal prosecutor Gary Shapiro took the stand, as well as the official court reporter who took down the transcript of Mapes’ 2021 grand jury testimony — transcripts that are usually subject to intense secrecy.

Flashes of that transcript were displayed on the screen in the courtroom, including the record of an admonishment to Mapes:

“If you tell the truth you’re in good shape,” the questioner told Mapes, according to the part of the transcript shown on screen. “If you lie, there’s a prosecution for perjury potentially in your future.”

And Mapes’ testimony was key to federal authorities’ anti-corruption probe, testified Brendan O’Leary, former head of the FBI’s public corruption squad in Chicago.

Madigan was well known for being cautious about using the telephone, and O’Leary said finding out what Madigan was doing required going through his de facto deputies.

“No cellphone, no email, no text. He relied on his tight inner circle,” O’Leary said. “… That’s how he communicated. Through people he trusted. That’s how his orders went out.”

Outside jurors’ presence, Mapes’ attorneys revealed that McClain had in fact been interviewed by FBI agents more than once unrelated to the ComEd affair. McClain spoke to authorities in 2013, 2014 and 2016, but U.S. District Judge John Kness barred mention of that in front of the jury, saying it was not relevant to whether Mapes lied.

In cross-examining O’Leary, the defense set the stage for what will likely be a key part of their argument: that McClain was a notorious blusterer. So even though Mapes had heard McClain say he had assignments from Madigan, Mapes couldn’t be certain that was actually true — thus, he wasn’t lying when he said he didn’t know about any such assignments.

In an attempt to paint McClain as unreliable, defense attorney Andrew Porter showed O’Leary transcripts of wiretapped conversations in which he made wild claims.

Porter said, according to transcripts, McClain also suggested then-Gov. Bruce Rauner might pay to up $100,000 in exchange for a report making Madigan look bad. Porter also pointed to a transcript in which he said McClain accused someone of shaking down Major League Baseball.

In opening statements Wednesday, prosecutors alleged Mapes deliberately lied and misled a federal grand jury because he wanted to “protect the boss.”

The Mapes defense team countered he “did his level best” to answer truthfully but could not remember details about Madigan’s activities with McClain, partly because Madigan jettisoned Mapes in June 2018.

Madigan asked for Mapes’ resignation from three major roles — chief of staff, House clerk and executive director of the Madigan-run Democratic Party of Illinois — after a downstate staffer accused him of sexual harassment and fostering a “culture of sexism, harassment and bullying.”

When Madigan first pushed Mapes out, one political operative told the Tribune that the existence of the Wizard of Oz sign in Mapes’ office represented a nod to the chief of staff’s heavy-handed gatekeeper role.

mcrepeau@chicagotribune.com

rlong@chicagotribune.com