A former lieutenant for Michael Madigan is expected to resume testimony Wednesday in the ex-speaker’s corruption case, where he’s giving jurors an insider look at Madigan’s influence over legislation in Springfield and Democratic Party politics.
Will Cousineau, who wore dual hats as both Madigan’s issues director in the House and also political director of the Democratic Party of Illinois, was called late in the day Tuesday in Madigan’s trial, which is now in its second week of testimony at the Dirksen U.S. Courthouse.
Cousineau, now a high-powered lobbyist, previously testified in the “ComEd Four” case last year, as well as the separate perjury trial of Tim Mapes, the speaker’s longtime chief of staff.
Testifying in a quiet voice and seeming slightly uncomfortable, Cousineau told the jury at the outset of his testimony he was granted immunity by the U.S. attorney’s office, meaning he cannot be charged if he tells the truth.
In his roughly 45 minutes on the stand, Cousineau walked the jury through all the ways that Madigan had control, saying the speaker was the ultimate decision-maker on everything from where campaign money was sent to who got legislative leadership positions or plum committee assignments.
Cousineau also testified that Madigan famously had no cellphone or email account of his own, and that staffers often called Madigan’s law office or ward headquarters to reach him.
Madigan watched Cousineau’s testimony intently but didn’t show any outward reaction to anything he said.
When the trial broke at 5 p.m., Cousineau got down from the witness stand and shimmied past the jury box, as far from the defense table as possible.
Madigan, 82, of Chicago, who served for decades as speaker of the Illinois House and the head of the state Democratic Party, faces racketeering charges alleging he ran his state and political operations like a criminal enterprise, scheming with utility giants ComEd and AT&T to put his cronies on contracts requiring little or no work and using his public position to drum up business for his private law firm.
Both Madigan and co-defendant Michael McClain, 77, a former ComEd contract lobbyist from downstate Quincy, have pleaded not guilty and denied wrongdoing.
In his testimony in the ComEd Four case last year, Cousineau outlined how last-minute arm-twisting orchestrated by the speaker on the House floor in 2016 made the difference between passing the Future Energy Jobs Act championed by ComEd or coming up several votes short.
Cousineau testified in that trial he warned Madigan and McClain in a phone call only days before the vote that a projected roll call showed the legislation did not have the 60 votes necessary to pass in the legislative fall veto session.
Madigan, he said, set in motion a full-court press in which Cousineau and his staff ginned up enough support from lawmakers and advocates who could help turn the tide.
On Wednesday, Cousineau is expected to testify about a wiretapped recording of one of Madigan’s
Earlier in Cousineau’s testimony, prosecutors played several snippets from a recording of one of Madigan’s “Sunday morning meetings,” where he forged strategy with an elite group of government staffers and lobbyists, including McClain and Cousineau.
On the December 2018 recording, which took place shortly after Republican Gov. Bruce Rauner lost to Democrat J.B. Pritzker, Madigan talked about demands various caucuses in the House were making regarding committee assignments and leadership posts.
Madigan insisted that he is the one who gets to appoint the majority leader — no one else.
“I understand we have a lot of people walking around trying to find things to complain about, but every once in a while the speaker gets to do what he wants to do,” Madigan said.
Cousineau is the 8th witness to testify in Madigan’s trial, which began Oct. 8 and is scheduled to last until at least mid-December.
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