Chicago Ald. Edward M. Burke spent years trying to use Danny Solis to lure private business from the developers of Chicago’s Old Post Office, asking Solis if he’d landed “the tuna” and insisting the developers could “go f— themselves” when they didn’t throw work Burke’s way.
He wasn’t alone. Then-Illinois House Speaker Michael J. Madigan told Solis on June 20, 2018 that he’d “been trying all kinds of lines to get to know” the project’s lead developer. Solis warned that Burke had tried too, but still, Solis predicted Madigan’s law partner would “impress the hell” out of the developer.
Solis quipped that “it’s very different from when Ed meets someone.” And then, Madigan broke out in jubilant laughter when Solis suggested the men had “different styles.”
“That’s a good way to say it!” Madigan told him.
A federal jury watched video Tuesday of one of the city’s most entrenched, powerful and old-school politicians joking about another as prosecutors continued to lay out their case against Madigan, who is now on trial. They played more than 30 recordings that allegedly show Madigan — like Burke — tried to use Solis to illegally steer business to his law firm.
In fact, Madigan mentioned the Old Post Office developer immediately after Solis asked for Madigan’s help getting a seat on a government board. Solis also promised, “I’ll continue to get you legal business.”
Burke, who spent 54 years on Chicago’s City Council, spent the 2023 holiday season on trial and is now serving a two-year prison sentence. Now the feds’ aggressive public corruption investigations seemed to overlap Tuesday as Solis’ testimony continued in this year’s trial of Madigan, the country’s longest-serving state House speaker.
Jurors heard Madigan ally Michael McClain tell Solis that it’s “not like it’s a secret” that people found it unwise to meet alone with then-state Rep. Luis Arroyo. McClain also called then-state Sen. Martin Sandoval an “indictment waiting to happen.”
Arroyo and Sandoval both later pleaded guilty to bribery schemes. Arroyo is in prison, while Sandoval died in 2020.
The jury hasn’t been told about their legal troubles. But they also heard secret recordings Tuesday in which McClain, Madigan’s longtime friend and confidant, connected with Solis — the veteran City Council member who wore a wire for the FBI against Madigan and Burke to avoid prison himself.
Fighting Irish, Italian food fan
McClain could be heard telling Solis how he got to know Madigan as a lawmaker in the 1970s and how they remained close family friends. McClain’s warning about watching Notre Dame games with his friend also gave jurors a glimpse at another side of the famously reserved House speaker.
“He’s yelling and screaming all the time,” McClain said. “You don’t want to sit in the living room with him and watch a Notre Dame game. He gets pretty passionate about it.”
The audio revealed other personal details about Madigan, including his love for an old Italian restaurant called Bruna’s at 24th and Oakley. The former speaker said he dined there with his adult children on a regular basis — multiple times a week.
“I tell ‘em, I’ll take you to dinner. I’ll buy the dinner, but you gotta go to Bruna’s, because I don’t want to go to the North Side,” Madigan laughed in one exchange with Solis.
Madigan, who resigned in 2021, and McClain are now on trial together for a racketeering conspiracy. Prosecutors say Madigan led a criminal enterprise designed to enrich himself and enhance his political power. McClain allegedly acted as his agent.
Prosecutors say Madigan used Solis to squeeze business out of developers involved in the Old Post Office, an apartment project in the West Loop and a hotel project in Chinatown. Jurors heard evidence about all three Tuesday, but mostly about Chinatown and the Post Office.
‘Developers will work with you’
The Chinatown deal involved a state-owned parking lot. Developers wanted to build a hotel there, but they needed the state to transfer possession to the City of Chicago. Madigan didn’t want to be openly involved in the effort because of his feud at the time with then-Republican Gov. Bruce Rauner.
Madigan put Solis in touch with McClain, who enlisted a lobbyist with ties to Rauner, Nancy Kimme.
Solis video-recorded a meeting he had with McClain about the project on Dec 18, 2017, inside Solis’ office at City Hall. Solis told McClain that, “in the past, I have been able to steer some work to [Madigan]. And these guys will do the same thing.”
The jury also saw a video recording that Solis made of Madigan discussing the Chinatown project inside Madigan’s private law office.
Solis told Madigan that, “I can be discreet. Those developers will work with you … and get you the property taxes.”
Madigan told him, “yeah, sure. Thank you.”
The Chinatown land-transfer ran into obstacles in Springfield, the jury heard, including from the likes of Sandoval. But jurors also heard how Solis, Madigan and McClain were buoyed by the pending election of Democrat JB Pritzker, who successfully challenged Rauner for office that year.
‘Happy to get you in the mix’
Solis seemed to rely on the pending Pritzker election when he asked Madigan, in an FBI ruse, if the Southwest Side Democrat would help Solis land a state board seat — eventually seeking one on the Illinois Commerce Commission or Labor Relations Board that paid six-figure sums.
Solis brought up the idea on June 20, 2018, prompting Madigan to ask about Old Post Office developer Harry Skydell. Solis promised Madigan “I’ll get Harry in here” — and he did, on Sept. 4, 2018.
But first, jurors saw how Madigan asked Solis to help his son, Andrew Madigan, get a business meeting. They also heard Madigan ask Solis to convince Skydell to give him tax work at the Prudential Building, where Madigan mistakenly thought Skydell had an interest.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Diane MacArthur confirmed with Solis that, at the time, he was also still hoping for Madigan’s help with the Chinatown land transfer.
Eventually, jurors saw a video recording that Solis made of the meeting Madigan had with Skydell at Madigan’s law firm.
There, they heard Skydell tell Madigan and his partner, “we’d be happy to get you in the mix.”