Former Illinois House Speaker Michael J. Madigan’s onetime top legal counsel in Springfield told jurors Wednesday about a “political war” at the Capitol, how Madigan’s close ally made her “crazy” during bill talks, and quibbled repeatedly with a prosecutor on the witness stand.
Heather Wier Vaught also apparently became the final victim of a troublesome water pitcher in the courtroom where Madigan is on trial for a racketeering conspiracy. U.S. District Judge John Blakey ordered it tossed in the trash after Wier Vaught tried to pour a drink and spilled.
In all, it turned out to be a short day for jurors, who are nearing deliberations after 11 weeks of testimony. Closing arguments are expected next week.
Madigan is accused of leading a criminal enterprise designed to enhance his political power and reward his associates, with longtime ally and ComEd lobbyist Michael McClain acting as his agent.
Prosecutors say ComEd and AT&T Illinois gave do-nothing jobs to Madigan’s allies so he would look more favorably at their legislation. They also say Madigan used then-Chicago Ald. Danny Solis, who served as the City Council’s zoning chair, to illegally steer business to Madigan’s private tax appeals law firm.
Madigan’s attorneys summoned Wier Vaught, who once served as chief legal counsel in the Office of the Speaker, to ask her about various topics, including the negotiations surrounding ComEd’s 2016 Future Energy Jobs Act, or FEJA.
Wier Vaught laughed off the water spill and told jurors “this is not a surprise.” But minutes into her testimony, Blakey had to ask her to speak slower.
“You talk about this fast,” Blakey said. “Almost 300 words a minute.”
Wier Vaught slowed down, and she told jurors that she recalled meetings about the FEJA legislation starting late in 2014 or early in 2015. Madigan attorney Dan Collins asked her about Madigan’s relationship with then-Gov. Bruce Rauner in the time period that followed.
“There was absolutely no relationship between the two,” Wier Vaught said. “We were in the middle of a political war.”
Collins went on to ask if Wier Vaught recalled “any moments during this negotiation on FEJA where you expressed to the speaker that McClain was making you crazy?”
“Yes,” she said.
Collins asked if Madigan told her to “treat McClain like a lobbyist?”
Again, Wier Vaught said that was true.
Turning to a separate piece of legislation sought by AT&T Illinois in 2017, designed to help it end its obligation to provide landline phone service to everyone in Illinois, Wier Vaught testified that it was her idea to link it to efforts to modernize 911 service.
AT&T Illinois saw the 911 effort, which involved higher fees for taxpayers, as a political drag on its bill.
Wier Vaught also explained how Madigan “directed” her to make sure “if any of his [law firm] clients had legislative issues, that he was advised and either not voted or pulled off from having to make any decisions related to those issues.”
The former Madigan lawyer then wound up sparring a bit with Assistant U.S. Attorney Diane MacArthur, pushing back on suggestions that Wier Vaught had acted inappropriately in her role as Madigan’s lawyer.
Wier Vaught acknowledged that she met with former Madigan aide Will Cousineau outside the Illinois State Library, “on the bench,” the day McClain’s home was raided by the FBI in May 2019. But she said she did so only “after I had been informed that someone had been raided.”
MacArthur also asked Wier Vaught about being “publicly associated with Mr. Madigan,” and about her loyalty to him. Wier Vaught discussed her commitment to Madigan during an inquiry from McClain attorney Patrick Cotter, as well.
“I was very committed to the Office of the Speaker,” Wier Vaught told Cotter. “Not necessarily just Speaker Madigan.”