Good morning, Chicago.
There is a parking lot in Chinatown tucked under the Red Line tracks, flat, narrow and nondescript except for a big sign advertising cheap rates.
To look at it, you’d never know the tiny, state-owned parcel would become ground zero in a petty but bitter political war — and a key factor in one of the biggest corruption cases in Illinois history.
But wiretapped phone calls played Thursday in the ongoing trial of former Democratic House Speaker Michael Madigan gave jurors a detailed picture of the behind-the-scenes machinations, power plays and bruised egos in the battle over the 2½-acre lot, which a group of deep-pocketed developers wanted to turn into a mixed-use high-rise.
The dispute was fueled by many classic Illinois factors, including the icy rivalry between Madigan and then-Republican Gov. Bruce Rauner, a falling out between then-state Sen. Martin Sandoval and Chicago Ald. Daniel Solis over Solis’ political backing of an opponent of Sandoval’s daughter, and a renegade freshman legislator irritated by developments being pushed in her district, according to testimony.
It all led to some of the more memorable lines in the Madigan case so far, many uttered by Madigan’s confidant, Michael McClain, and lobbyist Nancy Kimme, as they tried to pass a bill that would get the Chinatown lot transferred from the state to the city.
Read the latest in our ongoing reporting on the Madigan trial from the Tribune’s Jason Meisner and Megan Crepeau.
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