CHICAGO — The feds say a man who once had an “unbreakable” bond with former Illinois House Speaker
Michael J. Madigan
should be sentenced to nearly six years in prison, partly for serving as Madigan’s “agent, messenger” and “henchman” in a lengthy
conspiracy involving ComEd
.
Prosecutors said Thursday that Michael McClain’s “tight connection” with the former speaker led to McClain “making demand after demand of ComEd to fulfill Madigan’s directives,” as a jury concluded in May 2023.
“McClain’s plan was illegal to its core,” they wrote.
But McClain’s attorneys say he should get probation when he’s sentenced July 24. They said the 77-year-old former lobbyist once operated in an Illinois Capitol where favors were “not perceived by the vast majority of legislators and lobbyists … as being in any sense illegal.”
They also said the “most important consideration”for U.S. District Judge Manish Shah could be the adequacy of medical treatment McClain might receive behind bars. They cited the possibility that he could “die alone in prison, separated from his family and loved ones.”
“Mr. McClain has not held political office in over 30 years,” his lawyers told the judge. “He is neither responsible for, nor is it just to punish him to any degree for generations of the way politics has been conducted by other people in this state.”
